Echthroplexiella obscura (Hoffer, 1954)

Lotfalizadeh, Hossein, Karimpour, Younes, Delvare, Gérard & Rasplus, Jean-Yves, 2020, Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) obtained from common reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (Poaceae) in Iran with new records and descriptions of two new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 710, pp. 1-35 : 8

Echthroplexiella obscura (Hoffer, 1954)

Fig. 4

Material examined

IRAN • 1 ♀; West-Azarbaijan Province ; Urmia, Kelïsä Kandï; 37º29′ N, 45º01′ E; 1600 m a.s.l.; Apr. 2017; Y. Karimpour leg.; ex Phragmites australis ; HMIM .

Remarks

This species is distributed in the north and east of Europe ( Askew 1970; Kalina 1989; Trjapitzin 1989) and represents a new record from Iran. The biology of E. obscura is still unknown, but the species could be associated with a pseudococcid species on P. australis .

Some of the more important diagnostic characters of E. obscura are: body length of female 1.5 mm (range 1.2–1.6 mm; Trjapitzin 2006); body brownish-yellow to light brown with dark brown metasoma ( Fig. 4A ); scape much (4×) longer than wide, funicular segments wider than long, claval segments fused, obliquely truncate, shorter than the funiculus ( Fig. 4C ); notauli complete ( Fig. 4B ); brachypterous, forewing with 2 wide transverse dark bands, middle large band occupying their whole width, distal band broad, faintly fading away to the margin of the wing, hyaline band between the two bands very narrow; marginal vein 2× as long as broad, postmarginal vein as long as broad, stigma vein a little longer than broad; protruding part of ovipositor sheath longer than 1⁄5 of the length of metasoma ( Fig. 4A ).

Figures

Fig. 4. Echthroplexiella obscura (Hoffer, 1954). A. Female in lateral view. B. Head and mesosoma in dorsal view. C. Antenna of female.