Apolophus borealis Townes, 1971

Broad, Gavin R. & Shaw, Mark R., 2005, The species of four genera of Metopiinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in Britain, with new host records and descriptions of four new species, Journal of Natural History 39 (26), pp. 2389-2407 : 2390-2391

Apolophus borealis Townes

Diagnosis

In the British fauna, Apolophus borealis is recognizable by the clypeus and face forming a continuous, moderately convex surface ( Figure 2 ); thin mandibles with the lower tooth shorter than the upper ( Figure 2 ); lower face elongate, with long malar space ( Figures 2, 3 ); quadrate areolet; triangular, fairly long hypopygium, reaching to the end of the metasoma ( Figure 4 ); and deep glymmae on the first tergite. The habitus of the genus is illustrated in Figure 5 .

Biology

1♀ and 2 „ specimens of A. borealis were reared from pupae of Schreckensteinia festaliella (Hübner) ( Lepidoptera : Schreckensteiniidae ) collected as larvae on Rubus .

Material examined

England, UK: 1♀, Leicester, September 1973 (J. Owen) (AEI); 2 „„, Cornwall, Marsland Mouth, SS2117, ex Schreckensteinia festaliella (Hübner) , coll. 14 June 1998, em. July 1998 (J. L. Gregory) (NMS); 1♀, Cornwall, Truro/Tregony, SW8844 ex S. festaliella on Rubus fruticosa agg., coll. 11 October 1998, em. 26 November 1998 (J. L. Gregory) (NMS).

Comments

Although Townes (1971) had tentatively included it in Metopiinae , Porter (1998) suggested that Apolophus may belong in the Mesochorinae, and indeed the shape of the hypopygium and areolet are very mesochorine-like, with the configuration of the posterior end of the metasoma closely resembling that of Varnado Wahl (illustrated by Wahl 1993). However, as pointed out by Gauld and Sithole (2002), the fore and mid tarsal segments of Apolophus are foreshortened ( Figure 3 ), as in Metopiinae , and Gauld and Sithole (2002) suggest that Apolophus is a rather plesiomorphic member of the Metopiinae . We can now confirm that A. borealis is a primary larval–pupal parasitoid of Lepidoptera , as are other metopiines. In addition to the previous British record ( Owen et al. 1981), A. borealis has now been recorded from Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the USA ( Townes 1971; Yu and Horstmann 1997; Horstmann 2001), whilst further, mostly undescribed, species of Apolophus are known from South and Central America ( Townes 1971; Porter 1998; Gauld and Sithole 2002).

Figures

Figures 2–5. Apolophus borealis ♀. (2) Head, lateral view, showing narrow mandible. (3) Head and fore leg, showing long malar space and foreshortened tarsal segments. (4) Metasomal apex, showing large hypopygium. (5) Whole insect, lateral view.