Glyptapanteles subandinus (Blanchard, 1947) Blanchard, 1947

Rousse, Pascal & Gupta, Ankita, 2013, Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of Reunion Island: a catalogue of the local species, including 18 new taxa and a key to species, Zootaxa 3616 (6), pp. 501-547 : 534-535

Glyptapanteles subandinus (Blanchard, 1947) comb. nov.

( Fig. 15 g–i)

Apanteles subandinus Blanchard, 1947: 20 .

Diagnosis. Mesopleuron strongly sculptured. Hind coxa dark brown to blackkish. Wing venation mostly translucent, pterostigma centrally unpigmented.

Description. cf. Blanchard, 1947: 20 for details.

Material examined. 1Ƥ (CBGP 14764 RVA 471) Le Tampon / Piton Hyacinthe, alt. 1050m, II.1997, on Solanum tuberosum , leg. Cirad.

Host records. Achyra bifidalis (Fab.) ( Lepidoptera : Pyralidae ), Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) and Scrobipalpula absoluta (Meyrick) ( Lepidoptera : Gelechiidae ) on Solanum tuberosum .

Distribution records. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. Reunion (new record). Introduced into numerous countries for the biocontrol of P. operculella on potato crops.

Comments. Introduced into South Africa (Annecke et al. 1992), Madagascar (Appert et al. 1969) and Mauritius (Bartlett et al. 1978). Its presence in Reunion is therefore not surprising, though no official introduction has been recorded. Also introduced into India in 1944–1945 from South America, and later recovered (Rao et al., 1971; Sankaran, 1974). The holotype of A. subandinus was kept by Blanchard in his personal collection and we could not examine it. The description is nevertheless clearly detailed and illustrated, making this species unambiguously belonging to the genus Glyptapanteles .

Genus Microplitis Förster (Mason 1981)

Mesoscutum shining and densely sculptured, often with notauli. Posterior declivity of scutellum rugulose or punctate. Mesopleuron with epicnemial carina absent. Propodeum rather evenly curved and almost always completely rugose. Mid-longitudinal carina often present, areola absent. Fore wing with r–m present, the areolet closed. Vein R1 short, usually not extending beyond 0.6x the distance between the pterostigma and wing apex. Hind wing with vannal lobe convex and hairy throughout. Hind coxa small, not longer than tergite 1. Tergum 1 variable, apically narrowed to widened, usually sculptured. Following terga almost always smooth, tergum 2 rarely weakly sculptured. Tergum 3 always longer than tergum 2, their separation frequently not or poorly defined. Hypopygium usually rather small, sometimes rather elongated, occasionally truncate or medially emarginated, without median longitudinal crease. Ovipositor and sheaths projecting barely beyond apex of hypopygium, the sheaths with few hairs concentrated near apex.

Microplitis parasitise macrolepidoptera, mainly Noctuidae . It is a large genus, though it appears far less diversified in tropics than in Holarctic region. The genus is well characterized by the combination of the closed areolet, the absence of epicnemial carina, the coarse sculpture of propodeum and the poor separation between terga 2–3.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Glyptapanteles spp. a: G. c h i d r a sp. nov., female, habitus; b: G. c h i d r a, propodeum and terga 2 – 3; c: G. antsirabensis (Granger) comb. nov., female, habitus; d: G. antsirabensis, propodeum and terga 1 – 2; e: G. ficus (Granger) comb. nov., female, habitus; f: G. ficus, propodeum and terga 1 – 3; g: G. subandinus (Blanchard) comb. nov., female, habitus; h: G. subandinus, fore wing; i: G. subandinus, propodeum and tergum 1.