Pseudomalus triangulifer (Abeille de Perrin, 1877)

Paukkunen, Juho, Berg, Alexander, Soon, Villu, Odegaard, Frode & Rosa, Paolo, 2015, An illustrated key to the cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae) of the Nordic and Baltic countries, with description of a new species, ZooKeys 548, pp. 1-116 : 16

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Chrysididae

Pseudomalus triangulifer (Abeille de Perrin, 1877) Figs 2, 31, 34

Omalus triangulifer Abeille de Perrin, 1877: 65.

Pseudomalus triangulifer : Kimsey and Bohart 1991: 269.

Diagnosis.

Length 6-7 mm. The species resembles closely Pseudomalus auratus , but the antennal segments are longer (Fig. 34), the body is usually larger and the shape of the apical notch of T3 is shallower and more triangular (Fig. 31). The colour of the metasoma varies from mostly red to almost green. The darkest specimens can be somewhat similar to Pseudomalus violaceus , but the apical notch is always deeper in Pseudomalus triangulifer .

Distribution.

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden. Relatively rare. - Trans-Palearctic: from Europe and Turkey to China ( Linsenmaier 1959, 1968, Rosa et al. 2014).

Biology.

Habitat: forest margins and clearings, gardens and parks. Often collected from sun-exposed leaves of trees and bushes. Adults are attracted to honeydew of aphids and occasionally also to flowers of Apiaceae and Euphorbiaceae ( Linsenmaier 1997). Flight period: late April to August. Host: Passaloecus insignis (Vander Linden), Pemphredon lugubris (Fabricius), Pemphredon lethifer (Shuckard), Pemphredon lugens Dahlbom, Pemphredon montana Dahlbom and Pemphredon rugifer (Dahlbom) ( Crabronidae ) ( Alfken 1915, Strumia 1996, Wickl 2001, Veenendaal 2011, our own obs.). Females probably oviposit in aphids before they have been captured and brought to the nest by the host ( Veenendaal 2011).