Temelucha

B, Maryam Zardouei Heydari, Rakhshani, Ehsan, B, Azizollah Mokhtari, Received, Martin Schwarz B, Online, Published & Version, Final, 2020, A faunistic overview of Temelucha Förster (Hym., Ichneumonidae, Cremastinae) in Iran, Turkish Journal of Zoology 44 (4), pp. 355-374 : 355

Species of the genus Temelucha in Iran have been investigated by various authors ( Masnadi-Yazdinejad and Jussila, 2009; Kishani Farahani et al., 2010; Barahoei et al., 2014; Mohammadi-Khoramabadi et al., 2016 a, 2016b, Riedel et al., 2019). Amiri et al. (2015) published a taxonomic study of the Iranian Cremastinae , in which they provided a key to the Temelucha species known from Iran. Ambiguity of the diagnostic characters with emphasis on the variable colorations used in the key, make it difficult to recognize many closely related species.

Despite its diversity and interesting biology, Temelucha species of Iran have been very poorly studied yet. Territory of Iran is known as crossroad of 3 biogeographical regions ( Firouz, 2005) with a complex fauna and flora, which manifest a high rate of biodiversity within wide ranges of altitudinal zonation (below the sea level to 5.770 m), climate (humid to arid) and temperature (from –35 °C to 70 °C in the deserts of Dasht-e Lut) ( Hedge and Wendelbo, 1978; Zohary, 1963). The major parts of the country remain unexplored for the ichneumonids.Inthiswork, wedidanadditionalcontribution on the knowledge of Temelucha species in various regions of the country (north, northeastern, southeastern and western provinces). A key to the known Temelucha species in Iran, together with illustrated diagnoses, and supplementary data on the distribution of the species are provided.