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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hymenoptera |
Adults minute to small; 0.7–6.5 mm long.
Head. Antennal segments 7–8, or 11–12. Antennae geniculate.
Thorax. Pronotum long, extending back to the tegulae; vertically grooved to receive the fore femur. The spiracle cover lobe of the pronotum not margined with close fine hairs. Cenchri absent. Wings present, or absent (e.g., Trimorus procris). Fore-wings when present, without a pterostigma; with very reduced venation (with distinct, though sometimes short, marginal and stigmal veins); combining greatly reduced venation with a conspicuous, blind-ending stigmal vein (though this is sometimes short). Closed fore-wing cells 0, or 1 (the costal). Submarginal cells 0. Discoidal cells 0. Hind-wings without closed cells. Mid and hind tibiae with one spur only. Mid tibiae with one spur. Hind femur without a well defined trochantellus. Hind tibiae without specialised spurs.
Abdomen. The abdomen with a marked basal constriction. The ‘waist’ simple. Ovipositor of females not visibly protruding; adapted for piercing.
Larvae. Larvae legless or the legs vestigial; parasitic on hosts selected by the mother (on eggs of Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Orthoptera and occasionally Arachnids).
British representation. Species in Britain about 110; Allophanurus, Baeus, Gryon, Opisthacantha, Plesiobaeus, Scelio, Sparasion, Teleas, Telenomus, Thoron, Trimorus, Trisacantha, Trissolcus, Xenomerus (with numerous species in Telenomus and Trimorus).
Classification. Suborder Apocrita; Series Parasitica; Superfamily Proctotrupoidea.
Illustrations. • Sparasion frontalis (B. Ent. 317). • Sparasion frontalis (detail: B. Ent. 317). • Sparasion frontalis (dissections: B. Ent. 317). • Sparasion frontalis: B. Ent. 317, legend+text. • Sparasion frontalis: B. Ent. 317, text cont.. • Scelio rugulosus: B. Ent. 325. • Scelio rugulosus: B. Ent. 325, legend+text. • Scelio rugulosus: B. Ent. 325, text cont.. • Trimorus elatior: B. Ent. 333. • Trimorus elatior: B. Ent. 333, legend+text. • Trimorus elatior: B. Ent. 333, text cont.. • Trimorus procris (apterus): as Teleas procris, Stephens 1846.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hymenoptera. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
