New records of German Scelionidae (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea) from the collection of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart.

BACKGROUND: Scelionid wasps are arthropod egg parasitoids, many of which are relevant to global biosecurity. However, the scelionid fauna of Germany has not received much attention from professional taxonomists. NEW INFORMATION: Eleven species and four genera are recorded for the first time from Germany, including species of interest to agriculture and biological control. First genus records include Baryconus Förster, Macroteleia Westwood, Paratelenomus Dodd and Probaryconus Kieffer. First species records include B.europaeus (Kieffer), Idrisnigroclavatus (Kieffer), Idrissemiflavus (Kieffer), M.bicolora Kieffer, M.pannonica Szabo, Paratelenomussaccharalis (Dodd), Trimorusvaricornis (Walker), Trissolcusbasalis (Wollaston), Trissolcusbelenus (Walker), Trissolcuscolemani (Crawford) and Trissolcusflavipes (Thompson). COI barcodes are identified for the first time from B.europaeus and M.bicolora. Each species is illustrated and updated world distributions are provided. Implications for agriculture are discussed.

Introduction

is the third largest superfamily of in terms of the number of described species, exceeded only by and . The current number of valid species is ca. 6,500, with a worldwide estimate of about 10,000 (Hymenoptera Online 2020, Masner 1993, Johnson 2011). At the time of writing, the superfamily comprises two extant families, and (Talamas and Buffington 2015, Popovici et al. 2017).

In the 19th century, several notable experts published on German . The earliest was Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck, who described dozens of species in , , and (Nees von Esenbeck 1834). Julius Theodor Christian Ratzeburg described species of and associated with forest pests (Ratzeburg 1852). Soon after, Arnold Förster published his "Hymenopterologische Studien", establishing 26 platygastroid genera, many of which remain valid today (Förster 1856). In the early 20th century, Jean-Jacques Kieffer described numerous genera and species from central Europe, including German material (Kieffer 1926).

Since Kieffer, there has not been much research on the of Germany. The most recent catalogue of German insects (Dathe et al. 2001) lists 136 platygastroid species, including 56 . However, these numbers are certainly low. The section was based on a relatively short reference list and many common European taxa were not included. Thus, has been identified as a priority for research within the German Barcode of Life III: Dark Taxa project (Hausmann et al. 2020). Dark taxa are insect groups, mainly in and , which pose a taxonomic impediment to biodiversity studies. Such taxa are abundant and diverse in insect monitoring projects, but a lack of usable diagnostic literature makes species identification difficult to impossible.

Scelionid wasps parasitise the eggs of arthropods, including many invasive or noxious pest species (Austin et al. 2005). Thus, their accurate identification is critical to agricultural research, especially in the context of the global plant trade. For example, the brown marmorated stink bug, Stål, 1855, is an invasive species in Europe and North America. Its most effective natural enemy, (Ashmead, 1904), has been detected or established as an adventive species throughout the introduced range (Talamas et al. 2015, Abram et al. 2019, Stahl et al. 2019). Most recently, was detected in Germany (Dieckhoff et al. 2021). Similarly, (Dodd, 1914) has followed the kudzu bug, (Fabricius, 1798), from the Palearctic into North America (Gardner et al. 2013).

The current work represents a first update to the German platygastroid fauna within the German Barcode of Life (GBOL) III initiative. As these findings occurred within the first several months of the project, further discoveries are expected over the next three years. Identification of is still underway, as the state of taxonomic disarray in this group is more severe.

Materials and methods

We examined recent and historical collections of at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (SMNS). Recent material was collected for earlier stages of the GBOL project or for long-term insect monitoring programmes, generally by Malaise trap. Recently-collected specimens were preserved in 96% ethanol. Specimens collected for the GBOL project had DNA extracted non-destructively with the DNeasy Blood & Tissue Extraction Kit from Qiagen following the updated protocol provided by Cruaud et al. (2019). COI barcodes were amplified by PCR with the LCO1490/HCO2198 primers (Folmer et al. 1994). Barcode sequences are available at GenBank accession numbers MW829349–MW829358.

Illustrations were created with a Keyence imaging system. Adobe Photoshop was used for image processing and plate construction.

Taxon treatments

(Kieffer, 1908)

E836DBB2-FC5C-5087-8B97-66E095BE47F5

Kieffer, 1908

Kieffer, 1908

(Kieffer): Kieffer, 1926

(Kieffer): Bin, 1974

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: L. Krogmann; individualCount: 3; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Markgröningen; locality: Entomological Society of Stuttgart property in the Rotenacker; verbatimLocality: EVS-Vereinsgrundstück am Rotenacker; verbatimElevation: 280 m; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: sweep net; year: 2009; month: 8; day: 4; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: T. Kothe, M. Engelhardt, C. König; individualCount: 1; sex: female; associatedSequences: GenBank: MW829358; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Tübingen; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2014; month: 7; day: 17–31; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Distribution

(Fig. 1) was described from Italy and has also been recorded from Croatia, Cyprus, France, India, Japan, Morocco, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey and UAE (Popovici et al. 2013). It is expected in Romania (Spiridon et al. 2019). We here provide the first genus and species record for Germany and the first identified barcode for Identification is based on Popovici et al. (2013).

Figure 1.

(Kieffer), female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_1093. A. Lateral habitus; B. Head, frontal view; C. Dorsal habitus. Scale bar = 100 µm.

(Kieffer, 1908)

CD88CF46-FB53-5F2B-A453-0CB3C358A516

Kieffer, 1908

Kieffer, 1909

Kieffer, 1912

(Kieffer): Szabo, 1965

(Kieffer): Kozlov, 1978

(Kieffer): Huggert, 1979

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: J. Reibnitz; individualCount: 2; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Markgröningen; locality: Rotenacker Forest east; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: sieve; year: 2019; month: 4; day: 2; habitat: maple, forest edge; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

(Fig. 2) was described from Italy and has also been recorded from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Hungary, Spain and Sweden (Huggert 1979, Kononova and Kozlov 2001). We here provide the first species record for Germany. Identification is based on Huggert (1979).

Figure 2.

(Kieffer), female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_001098. A. Dorsal habitus; B. Lateral habitus; C. Head, frontal view. Scale bar = 100 µm.

(Kieffer, 1908)

B6C0C640-8847-530D-81AD-61BE4EFFC84B

Kieffer, 1908

(Kieffer): Huggert, 1979

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: O. Zimmermann, S. Wenz, M. Renninger, A. Reißig; individualCount: 1; sex: female; associatedSequences: Genbank: MZ334547; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Weil am Rhein; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Klaus Schrameyer; Event: samplingProtocol: suction sampler; year: 2020; month: 7; day: 14; habitat: ruderal area dominated by ; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: O. Zimmermann, S. Wenz, M. Renninger, A. Reißig; individualCount: 1; sex: female; associatedSequences: Genbank: MZ334548; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Weil am Rhein; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Klaus Schrameyer; Event: samplingProtocol: suction sampler; year: 2020; month: 7; day: 14; habitat: ruderal area dominated by ; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: O. Zimmermann, M. Trautmann; individualCount: 1; sex: female; associatedSequences: Genbank: MZ334549; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Konstanz; Identification: identifiedBy: Klaus Schrameyer; Event: samplingEffort: suction sampler; year: 2020; month: 8; day: 7; habitat: ruderal area near apple production; Record Level: type: Physical Object; bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

(Fig. 3) was described from France and has been recorded from Egypt, Hungary, Italy, Mongolia, Spain and Switzerland (Huggert 1979). We here provide the first species record for Germany. Identification is based on Huggert (1979).

Figure 3.

(Kieffer), female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_001149. A. Dorsal habitus; B. Lateral habitus; C. Head, frontal view; D. Clava and mandible. Scale bar = 100 µm.

Kieffer, 1908

C75C0263-F32F-59CF-95BE-4B93A51F17B0

Kieffer, 1908

(Kieffer): Kozlov, 1978

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Patricia Gut; individualCount: 2; sex: female; associatedSequences: GenBank: MW829349, 829350; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Emmendingen; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2017; month: 8; day: 2–16; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

(Fig. 4) was described from Italy and has also been recorded from Denmark, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom (Kozlov 1987, Notton et al. 2014). We here provide the first genus and species record for Germany and the first identified barcode for Identification is based on Kozlov (1987).

Figure 4.

Kieffer, female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000731. A. Dorsal habitus; B. Lateral habitus; C. Head, frontal view. Scale bar = 100 µm.

Szabo, 1966

0D4C10C0-1C92-597C-9125-A5BDEB997E73

Szabo, 1966

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: H.-J. Flügel; individualCount: 1; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Hessen; municipality: Hersfeld-Rotenburg; locality: Rockensüß, Eschkopf; verbatimElevation: 339 m; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2012; verbatimEventDate: 25 Jul.–15 Aug. 2012; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

(Fig. 5) was described from Hungary and has also been recorded from Romania (Fabritius and Popovici 2007, Kononova and Kozlov 2008). We here provide the first genus and species record for Germany. Identification is based on Kononova and Kozlov (2008).

Figure 5.

Szabo, female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000159. A. Ventral head; B. Lateral habitus; C. Dorsal habitus. Scale bar = 100 µm.

(Dodd, 1914)

53891D70-A263-57F2-80D6-D57A6EA67B8C

Dodd, 1914

(Dodd): Kieffer, 1926

(Dodd): Johnson, 1988

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: L. Krogmann; individualCount: 1; sex: male; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Markgröningen; locality: Entomological Society of Stuttgart property in the Rotenacker; verbatimLocality: EVS-Vereinsgrundstück am Rotenacker; verbatimElevation: 280 m; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: sweep net; year: 2009; month: 8; day: 4; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: T. Kothe, M. Englehardt, Ch. König; individualCount: 1; sex: female; associatedSequences: GenBank: MW829355; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Tübingen; locality: Wurmlingen, Gegental; verbatimElevation: 377 m; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Jessica Awad; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2014; month: 5; day: 13–23; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

(Fig. 6) was described from Indonesia and has also been recorded from Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Benin, China, Ghana, India, Ivory Coast, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Moldova, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Uganda, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Johnson 1996). We here provide the first genus and species record for Germany. Identification is based on Johnson (1996).

Figure 6.

(Dodd), female, SMNS_Hym_000305. A. Head, frontal view; B. Dorsal habitus; C. Lateral habitus. Scale bar = 100 µm.

Kieffer, 1908

E7D415C4-CDD3-55E5-ACE2-783FD3A6E875

Kieffer, 1910

Kieffer, 1913

Kieffer, 1913

Risbec, 1957

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: T. Kothe, M. Englehardt, Ch. König; individualCount: 2; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Tübingen; locality: Wurmlingen, Gegental; verbatimElevation: 377 m; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2014; month: 5; day: 13–23; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

(Fig. 7) was described from France and has also been recorded from Australia, Azerbaijan, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, French Guiana, Ghana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Jamaica, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela and the Virgin Islands (Hymenoptera Online 2020, Kieffer 1926, Kozlov 1987). We here provide the first genus record for Germany. Identification is based on Kozlov (1987) and Talamas et al. (2011).

Figure 7.

Kieffer, female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000344. A. Dorsal habitus; B. Lateral habitus. Scale bar = 100 µm.

(Walker, 1836)

6E7D2762-B4C7-5892-99E9-DE48646F01BC

Walker, 1836

Walker, 1836

Thomson, 1859

Thomson, 1859

(Walker): Marshall, 1873

(Walker): Marshall, 1873

(Walker): Walker, 1874

Szepligeti, 1901

(Walker): Kieffer, 1908

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1908

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1908

Kieffer, 1908

(Walker): Kieffer, 1913

(Walker): Kieffer, 1926

(Walker): Kieffer, 1926

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1926

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1926

(Szepligeti): Kieffer, 1926

(Kieffer): Kieffer, 1926

(Walker): Szabo, 1957

(Thomson): Sundholm, 1967

(Thomson): Sundholm, 1967

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: M. Hermann; individualCount: 1; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Klettgau; locality: Jestett; verbatimLocality: Flachshof BF1N; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: year: 1996; month: 6; day: 3; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

(Fig. 8) was described from Ireland and has also been recorded from Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom (Fabritius and Popovici 2007, Hymenoptera Online 2020, Kononova and Kozlov 2001). We here provide the first species record for Germany. Identification is based on Kozlov (1987).

Figure 8.

(Walker), female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_001100. A. Head, frontal view; B. Dorsal habitus; C. Lateral habitus. Scale bar = 100 µm.

(Wollaston, 1858)

3C3D96C9-CEE1-5B6A-8C95-B176848E3210

Wollaston, 1858

Wollaston, 1858

Ashmead, 1894

Schulz, 1906

Dodd, 1920

(Ashmead): Kieffer, 1926

Fouts, 1934

(Wollaston): Nixon, 1935

Nixon, 1938

(Wollaston): Delucchi, 1961

(Wollaston): Masner, 1965

(Dodd): Masner, 1965

(Nixon): Masner, 1965

(Nixon): Voegele, 1969

(Fouts): Bin, 1974

Szabo, 1981

(Ashmead): Johnson, 1983

(Szabo): Kononova, 2014

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Patricia Gut; individualCount: 2; sex: female; associatedSequences: GenBank: MW829356, MW829357; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Freiburg; locality: Emmendingen; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2017; month: 10; day: 11–25; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

(Fig. 9) was described from Portugal and has also been recorded from Australia, Brazil, China, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Montenegro, Montserrat, South Africa, Spain, Tonga, Turkey, USA, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe Talamas et al. (2017). We here provide the first species record for Germany. Identification is based on Talamas et al. (2017).

Figure 9.

(Wollaston), female. A. Lateral habitus, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000806; B. Dorsal habitus, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000805; C. Head, frontal view, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000806. Scale bar = 500 µm.

(Walker, 1836)

71A37866-C39A-51FF-877C-DE3625962366

Walker, 1836

Walker, 1836

Thomson, 1860

Thomson, 1860

Thomson, 1860

Thomson, 1860

Thomson, 1860

Rondani, 1877

Thomson: Dalla Torre, 1898

(Rondani): Dalla Torre, 1898

(Walker): Kieffer, 1912

(Walker): Kieffer, 1912

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1912

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1912

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1912

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1912

(Rondani): Kieffer, 1912

(Walker): Kieffer, 1926

(Walker): Kieffer, 1926

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1926

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1926

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1926

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1926

(Thomson): Masner, 1959

(Thomson): Viktorov, 1967

Javahery, 1968

Javahery, 1968

(Rondani): Bin, 1974

(Walker): Fergusson, 1978

(Thomson): Fergusson, 1978

(Javahery): Fergusson, 1978

(Javahery): Fergusson, 1978

(Walker): Fergusson, 1983

(Thomson): Tortorici et al., 2019

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Gauss; individualCount: 12; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Hartheim Breisach; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: reared; year: 1971; month: 6; day: 14; habitat: ex. ; Record Level: institutionCode: SMNS

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: T. Kothe, M. Englehardt, Ch. König; individualCount: 3; sex: female; associatedSequences: GenBank: MW829354, MW829353; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Tübingen; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2014; month: 7; day: 17–31; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

(Fig. 10) was described from the UK and has also been recorded from China, France, Iran, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and Tanzania (Tortorici et al. 2019). We here provide the first species record for Germany. Identification is based on Tortorici et al. 2019.

Figure 10.

(Walker), female. A. Lateral habitus, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000719 (scale bar = 100 µm); B. Dorsal habitus, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000719 (scale bar = 200 µm); C. Head, frontal view, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000719 (scale bar = 200 µm); D. Preserved host material (scale bar = 500 µm).

(Crawford, 1912)

AE504BBC-3B9E-5B85-89F3-BF18A0193771

Crawford, 1912

Ryakhovskii, 1959

Ryakhovskii, 1959

Ryakhovskii, 1959

Voegele, 1962

(Ryakhovskii): Viktorov, 1964

(Ryakhovskii): Viktorov, 1964

Voegele, 1964

(Ryakhovskii): Viktorov, 1967

(Ryakhovskii): Viktorov, 1967

Javahery, 1968

(Voegele): Kozlov & Le, 1977

(Voegele): Kozlov & Le, 1977

Clarke, 1993

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Fischer; individualCount: 7; sex: 1 male, 6 females; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; locality: Bopserwald; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: reared; year: 1932; month: 7; day: 12; habitat: aus Wanzeneiern [from bug eggs]; Record Level: institutionCode: SMNS

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Patricia Gut; individualCount: 2; sex: female; associatedSequences: GenBank: MW829352, MW829351; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Bahlingen; verbatimCoordinates: ; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2017; month: 9; day: 13–27; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: University of Hohenheim insect summer course; individualCount: 1; sex: male; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Baden-Württemberg; municipality: Tübingen; locality: Steinenberg; verbatimElevation: 460–490 m; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: year: 2019; month: 7; day: 1–2; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

(Fig. 11) was described from India and has also been recorded from China, France, Greece, India, Iran, Italy, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kindgom (Tortorici et al. 2019). We here provide the first species record for Germany. Identification is based on Tortorici et al. (2019).

Figure 11.

(Crawford), female. A. Lateral habitus, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000796; B. Head, frontal view; C. Dorsal habitus, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000797; D. Historical mounting method. Scale bar = 100 µm.

(Thompson, 1860)

48519DEC-BCFB-5DCF-9BE4-022E9D76D818

Thomson, 1860

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1912

(Thomson): Kieffer, 1926

Kozlov & Le, 1976

Kononova, 2014

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: H.-J. Flügel; individualCount: 2; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Hessen; municipality: Vogelsbergkreis; locality: Ober-Moos; verbatimLocality: Windwurffläche, SNR 5121a; verbatimElevation: 473 m; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2012; verbatimEventDate: 29 May–18 Jun. 2012; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: F. Koch; individualCount: 1; sex: female; Taxon: scientificName: ; Location: country: Germany; stateProvince: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; municipality: Insel Rügen; locality: Kniepow; verbatimElevation: 50 m; Identification: identifiedBy: Cristina Vasilita; Event: samplingProtocol: Malaise trap; year: 2014; month: 8; day: 3–9; Record Level: bibliographicCitation: ; institutionCode: SMNS

(Fig. 12) was described from Sweden and has also been recorded from Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Japan, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine and the United Kingdom (Talamas et al. 2017). We here provide the first species record for Germany. Identification is based on Talamas et al. (2017).

Figure 12.

(Thompson), female, SMNS_Hym_Sce_000188. A. Dorsal habitus; B. Lateral habitus; C. Head, frontal view. Scale bar = 100 µm.

Discussion

Of the two families of , is better resolved. High-quality revisions and keys are available for many genera of , due to careful attention from professional taxonomists, as well as data regarding ecological and biological aspects. has been somewhat more neglected and, in large genera, such as Latreille and Förster, better diagnostic tools are needed for accurate species identification. This is the case with some genera of as well, such as Haliday and Haliday. For example, one-hundred-year-old specimens of still remain unidentified in the collection of SMNS. As taxonomic issues are resolved, it will become possible to accurately identify material for barcode reference libraries.

and are here barcoded for the first time. A comparison with existing records in BOLD Systems (https://www.boldsystems.org/) showed no matches to identified material. For the sequences, the highest match (93.62%) was to unidentified specimens from Gabon. The sequence was most similar (97.63%) to unidentified specimens from South Africa. As expected, all sequences matched well (at least 99%) with appropriately identified material.

Based on preliminary data, several species of are found in Germany, but their nomenclature is uncertain, due to the aforementioned taxonomic impediment. Historical specimens remained unidentified in the SMNS collection for 50 to almost 100 years. The oldest of these, , was reared from hemipteran eggs in 1932 (Fig. 11). A series of from 1971 are preserved along with host material (Fig. 10). It is no surprise that these specimens were never identified, since was largely overlooked for nearly two centuries before it was properly examined and keyed by Tortorici et al. (2019).

In addition to the newly-recorded species, species already known from Germany, such as (Mayr), (Nees von Esenbeck) and (Thomson), have been repeatedly detected at various locations in Baden-Württemberg. The last checklist of German (Dathe et al. 2001) also includes (Nixon), (Ratzeburg) and (Mayr). is now a junior synonym of (Thomson) (Talamas et al. 2017). The taxonomic status of is unverifiable, as there is no known type material and some authors even debate whether should be placed in rather than (Kononova 2014). As for , it was not found, which we think is an intriguing matter considering the number of specimens examined by C.V. at SMNS.

Our results emphasise that much remains to be discovered regarding parasitoid ecosystem services in Germany. Many of the newly-recorded species parasitise the eggs of stink bugs which pose a threat to vegetable and fruit production. As wasp species differ in their host preference and biological control efficacy, accurate identification is an important factor in agroecological studies (Scaccini et al. 2020). The effect of the scelionid species assemblage on local pest populations merits further attention, especially in the context of organic or sustainable food systems.