Hoplismenus bispinatorius (THUNBERG, 1824)

Riedel, Matthias, 2021, The Western Palaearctic species of the subtribe Hoplismenina HEINRICH (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ichneumoninae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 53 (2), pp. 901-926 : 907-909

Hoplismenus bispinatorius (THUNBERG, 1824) ( Ichneumon ) (figs 2, 14, 22, 33)

H o l o t y p e: (♀) [red] Uppsala Univ. Zool. Mus. Thunbergsaml nr. 24788 Ichneumon bispinatorius SV. Type; Hoplismenus armatorius PZ. & (Uppsala), type studied. syn. Ichneumon armatorius FABRICIUS, 1787 , praeoccupied by FORSTER, 1771 H o l o t y p e: (♀) [Copenhavn], not studied. syn. Hoplismenus albifrons GRAVENHORST, 1829 L e c t o t y p e: (♁) [red] Lectotypus OE ♁; Hoplismenus albifrons Grav. des. Oehlke 7.65

Lectotypus ♁; MZW 78 (Wroclaw), designated by Rasnitsyn (1981), type studied. syn. Hoplismenus perniciosus GRAVENHORST, 1829 L e c t o t y p e: (♀)[red] Lectotypus Hoplismenus perniciosus GRAV. & design. A. Rasnitsyn,´79

(Wroclaw), type studied. syn. nov. Cryptus crassicornis RUDOW, 1883 L e c t o t y p e: (♁) without original labels (Jena), designated and synonymized with H. albifrons by HORSTMANN (1993), type not studied. syn. Ichneumon bellicosus DE STEFANI, 1885

Type probably lost, synonymized by YU & HORSTMANN (1997).

syn. nov. Hoplismenus armatorius insulator AUBERT, 1960

Type not seen, material in ZSM determined by AUBERT studied. syn. nov. Peritaenius istrianus CLÉMENT, 1927 H o l o t y p e: (♁) Pola Schlett. (Vienna), type studied. M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d: 109♀♀, 40♁♁ from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech

Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia,

Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

D e s c r i p t i o n: ♀: Body length 7.5-10 mm. Flagellum with 33-37 flagellomeres; 1 st flagellomere 3.1-4.0× and 2 nd flagellomere 2.3-2.7× longer than wide, FI 0.83-0.90; widest flagellomeres 1.3-1.5× wider than long. Temple distinctly and almost linearly narrowed behind eye. Frons with fine transverse rugae, granulate, dull. Face and clypeus densely punctate, granulate, dull. Gena 0.75-0.85× as wide as eye. MI 1.5-1.8. Genal carina straight ventrally. Hypostomal carina slightly elevated.

Mesosoma covered with pale hairs. Side of pronotum finely rugose-punctate, not striate. Notaulus indistinct. Mesoscutum with dense and superficial punctures, granulate, dull. Mesopleuron densely punctate and granulate, dull. Sternaulus impressed in frontal 0.4 of mesopleuron. Epicnemial carina low. Metapleuron punctate, margins partly rugose, centrally ± smooth and shining. Juxtacoxal carina distinct. Scutellum distinctly and roundly elevated, with lateral carina in basal 0.1-0.4, with scattered punctures. Area superomedia heart-shaped, about as long as wide; anterior transverse carina distinct, reaching area superomedia behind its middle. Apophysis slightly longer than basally wide. Coxae with fine dense punctures, granulate. Hind femur 4.0-5.0× (rarely 5.2×) longer than wide. Postpetiolus 0.85-0.90× as wide as distance between apophyses, lateral field 0.3-0.5× as wide as median field, median field finely granulate, ± densely punctate. Thyridium transverse, 0.5-0.7× as wide as the interval. 2 nd tergite 1.25-1.35× wider than long. 2 nd and 3 rd tergites densely and superficially punctate, granulate, ± dull. 4 th tergite almost smooth. Ovipositor sheath 0.6-0.62× as long as hind metatarsus.

Color: black. Scape and flagellomeres 1-3/4 sometimes reddish ventrally. Flagellomeres 6/8-9/11, frontal orbit, sometimes collar and hind edge of pronotum, sometimes spot on subtegular ridge and scutellum mainly cream-yellow. Petiolus black; postpetiolus and 2 nd to 4 th tergites red; following tergites often ± brown. Ovipositor sheath black. Coxae and trochanters black, sometimes ± reddish. Legs otherwise usually red; hind femur usually infuscate apically; hind tibia infuscate in apical 0.2-0.5; hind tarsus brown (sometimes hind leg entirely black). Pterostigma brown or reddish-brown.

♁: Body length 7-9 mm. Flagellum with 33-35 flagellomeres (32 in var. insulator ); 1 st flagellomere 3.0× and 2 nd flagellomere 2.0× longer than wide, FI 0.85. Tyloids on flagellomeres 5/7-15/20, oval, 0.6-0.8× as long as their flagellomere. OED 1.0-1.2× ocellar diameter. MI 1.0. Genal carina straight or slightly concave ventrally. Notaulus indicated frontally by transverse rugae. Scutellum pyramidal, in profile with rounded tip and usually without transverse carina or ridge on top. Area superomedia heart-shaped, slightly longer than wide or ± transverse; anterior transverse carina in its middle. Area petiolaris with lateral carina, with transverse rugae. Hind femur 4.1-4.8× longer than wide. Postpetiolus 0.8× as wide as distance between apophyses, lateral field 0.4× as wide as median field, median field ± punctate. Thyridium 0.5-0.6× as wide as the interval. 2 nd tergite 1.25× wider than long. 2 nd and 3 rd tergites densely punctate and granulate, 2 nd tergite ± aciculate between thyridia.

Color: black. Flagellum blackish, usually reddish ventrally. Palps, mandible except teeth, clypeus ±, face (sometimes with brown median stripe, rarely only facial orbit), frontal orbit, scape ventrally, usually frontal margin and hind edge of pronotum, often subtegular ridge, scutellum mainly, spots on fore and mid coxae, often 2 nd to 4 th mid tarsomeres and hind 2 nd or 3 rd to 4 th or 5 th tarsomeres yellowish. Petiolus black; metasoma otherwise red, sometimes 4 th to 7 th tergites ± dark. Coxae and trochanters black; fore and mid legs otherwise red, yellowish frontally; hind femur red or apically ± infuscate; hind tibia black, diffusely reddish subbasally; hind tarsus except pale parts black. Pterostigma ochreous to brown.

T a x o n o m i c r e m a r k: The taxon Hoplismenus albifrons GRAVENHORST was often separated from Hoplismenus bispinatorius (THUNBERG) as a valid species, mainly due to small color differences (e.g. RASNITSYN & SIYTAN 1981). ♀♀ of typical H. bispinatorius have reddish basal flagellomeres and black coxae whereas the basal flagellomeres and coxae are black in specimens determined as H. albifrons . I studied a large number of specimens from the Palaearctic region and found all intermediate forms of color patterns. In addition, the melanistic variants with black hind legs and ± darkened metasoma – a color pattern also found in H. bidentatus (GMELIN) – were sometimes distinguished as different taxa by former authors (e. g. Hoplismenus moestus GRAVENHORST and Hoplismenus istrianus CLÉMENT ). The form of the elevated scutellum is very variable in the studied ♁♁: some have a ± rounded tip, others a pyramidal form with a ± distinct transverse carina on top. In addition, these ♁♁ show several color patterns of face and hind legs, but I was not able to separate different taxa using these features.

Here, I propose these differences as color and structural variants of one variable species with the valid name Hoplismenus bispinatorius (THUNBERG) . The typical specimens of H. bispinatorius with reddish basal flagellomeres and black hind coxae are quite rare (10% of specimens), but are found in whole Europe. The most common form (75% of specimens: var. albifrons GRAVENHORST ) has black coxae and basal flagellomeres and is also found in the Eastern Palaearctic region. A few specimens with reddish basal flagellomeres and red coxae (3 specimens: var. ruficoxalis nov.) were found in Southwestern Ukraine and the Caucasus region. The variant with entirely black hind legs (15% of specimens: var. moestus GRAVENHORST ) is mainly distributed in the Alps and Southern Europe.

H o s t s: Coenonympha tullia (MÜLLER, 1764) (Lep. Nymphalidae ) (Edinburgh), Coenonympha pamphilus (LINNAEUS, 1758) (Lep. Nymphalidae ) (Edinburgh).