Polemochartus melas (Giraud) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Alysiinae) new to Britain
Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Shaw, Mark R
Jennings, M T
Date published
2008
Abstract
The small Palaearctic genus Polemochartus is well-known to be exclusively parasitic upon chloropid flies of the genus Lipara, which cause galls on Phragmites, ovipositing into the host's egg and killing it at the puparium stage. Hitherto, the only one of the four European species that has been found in Britain, UK, is Polemochartus liparae, a large reddish and black braconid that is widespread in reed-beds in the southern half of mainland Britain and commonly reared from the large cigar-like galls of its regular host, Lipara lucens. This paper reports the presence in England of a second species, Polemochartus melas, which is a known parasitoid of Lipara rufitarsis. The morphology of Polemochartus melas is described and a taxonomic key to the genus Polemochartus is presented
Journal title
Entomologist's Gazette
Volume
59
Publisher
Pemberley Books
ISSN
0013-8894
Official URL