# On the presence of Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus Kasparyan & Shaw 2008 in France (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), a surprisingly westerly occurrence

William Penigot

► To cite this version:

William Penigot. On the presence of Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus Kasparyan & Shaw 2008 in France (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), a surprisingly westerly occurrence. Carnets Natures, 2019, 6, pp.39-42. hal-03763949

HAL Id: hal-03763949

https://hal.science/hal-03763949v1

Submitted on 30 Aug 2022

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 - Attribution - International License
CARNETS NATURES

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /></figure>

carnetsnatures.fr
# On the presence of *Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus* Kasparyan & Shaw 2008 in France (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), a surprisingly westerly occurrence

William Penigot

## Abstract

*Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus* Kasparyan & Shaw has been captured in France for the first time, and thus constitutes the first data in Western Europe for this species. Characters for identifying the species are given.

**Keywords** : Distribution, Taxonomy, Eastern Europe.

## Résumé

### Sur la présence de *Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus* Kasparyan & Shaw 2008 en France (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), une occurence étonnamment très à l'ouest

*Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus* Kasparyan & Shaw a été capturé pour la première fois en France et constitue donc la première donnée en Europe occidentale pour cette espèce. Les critères d'identification de l'espèce sont donnés.

**Mots clés** : Distribution, Taxonomie, Europe de l'Est

## Introduction

The genus *Phytodietus* Gravenhorst, 1829 is included in the tribe Phytodietini of the subfamily Tryphoninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Three subgenera and more than 20 species occur in Europe (Achterberg & Zwakhals 2004; Györfi 1944; Kasparyan & Shaw 2008; Kasparyan & Tolkanitz 1999; Kolarov 2003; Kostro-Ambroziak 2007a, 2007b; Kostro-Ambroziak & Sawoniewicz 2007; Roman 1938). According to the bibliography, *Phytodietus* species are koinobiont ectoparasitoids of semi-concealed larvae of several families of Microlepidoptera (Loan 1981; Kasparyan & Shaw 2008). Phytodietus are mid-sized species easily distinguishable from other Tryphoninae genera (Townes 1969), but the identification of the different the species remains complicated. As a result,

new species and distribution data are still being discovered (Kasparyan 2016; Kostro-Ambroziak & Sawoniewicz 2007; Kostro-Ambroziak & Magnusson 2014, Kostro-Ambroziak & Di Giovanni 2016), like *Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus* Kasparyan & Shaw. This species, described in 2008, was until now known only from Ukraine and Russia.

## Material and methods

Two females of *Phytodietus (Neuchorus) tauricus* were recently captured in France.

The first specimen arose from an important trapping campaign with Malaise traps in a French National Nature Reserve "Réserve Naturelle Nationale du Ravin de Valbois" (Langlois, Claude & Tissot 2014). It was captured between 08.vi.2017 and 19.vi.2017 in Cléron, in the Doubs county
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 1** - Habitat in which the specimen from Cléron was caught (Photo: Frédéric Ravenot).</figcaption></figure>

[47.094600N, 6.0920200E, 500m]. The habitat consists of a thermophile calcareous forest fringe, near oak forest and a cliff (Fig. 1). This specimen has been donated to the National Museum of Scotland.

The second specimen was netted by the author on 10.v.2019 in Bellegarde-Marsal, in the Tarn county [43.929672N, 2.262655E, 250m]. The habitat consists of a young forest stage on a clay-carbonate

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 2** - Habitat in which the specimen from Bellegarde-Marsal was netted.</figcaption></figure>
North slope, mostly dominated by chestnut and oak, near the Tarn river (Fig. 2). This specimen is retained by the author.

## Identification

The subgenus *Neuchorus* Uchida can be recognised by: fore wing with areolet; hind wing with nervellus always intercepted by discoidella; tergite 1 strongly narrowed anterior to spiracles, about twice (1.6–2.7) as long as wide and its dorso-lateral margins usually rounded behind spiracles; epomia distinct; flagellum generally with 36–44 segments (except for *Ph. maculator* with 34 segments). Frontal (and often facial) orbits yellow; hind tibia without white spot at base. Mesopleurum with fine but discernible punctures (Kasparyan & Shaw 2008).

Within the subgenus *Neuchorus*, *Phytodietus* (N.)

*tauricus* is easily recognised by: the ovipositor sheath 1.5 times as long as hind tibia in ♀♀ (Fig. 3); the numerous tyloids in ♂♂ (on flagellomeres from the 15th to the subapical ones) that give the flagellum in lateral view a saw-like (serrated) appearance; and its dark ground color in both sexes, with very poorly developed yellow marks (Fig. 3).

The detailed description of the species is given by Kasparyan & Shaw (2008).

## Comments

Given its known distribution (Ukraine and Russia), the presence of this species in France constitutes a very far westerly occurrence. These data emphasise the lack of knowledge about this genus and its distribution patterns in the Western Palaearctic (Johansson 2017).

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 3 - *Phytodietus* (N.) *tauricus* ♀, habitus in lateral view.</figcaption></figure>

**Acknowledgements:** I am very grateful to Mark Shaw (National Museum of Scotland) who confirmed the identification and provided good comments, and Dominique Langlois (Conservator of the “Réserve Naturelle Nationale du Ravin de Valbois”) who allowed me to have access to many Ichneumonidae, including *Ph. (N.) tauricus*. I also want to thank the reviewers, especially Peter Culleton for his valuable comments.

## Bibliography

Achterberg C. & Zwakhals K. (2004) - Fauna Europaea: Ichneumonoidea. http://www.faunaeur.org/ 2.4.

Györfi J. (1944) - Vier neue Ichneumoniden-Arten aus Ungarn. *Fragmenta Faunistica Hungarica* 7(2-3): 42–45.

Johansson, N. (2017) - *Phytodietus* (*Neuchorus*)
maculator and *Phytodietus* (*Phytodietus basalis*, two parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae & Tryphoninae) new to Sweden. [*Phytodietus* (*Neuchorus*) *maculator* och *Phytodietus* (*Phytodietus*) *basalis* (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae) två nya brokparasitsteklar för Sverige.] – *Entomologisk Tidskrift* 138 (3-4): 233-237.

Kasparyan D.R. (2016) - Description of four new species of the genus *Phytodietus* Gravenhorst, 1829 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Tryphoninae) from the Eastern Palaearctic region. – *Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS* Vol 320, No 1: 121-130.

Kasparyan D.R., Shaw M.R. (2008) - British and European *Phytodietus* Gravenhorst (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae) in the National Museum of Scotland, with a key to European species of the subgenus *Neuchorus* Uchida and descriptions of three new species. *Entomologist's Gazette* 59: 184-198.

Kasparyan D.R., Tolkanitz V.I. (1999) - Fauna of Russia and neighboring countries. Insecta Hymenoptera, New Series 143, 3(3). Ichneumonidae. Subfamily Tryphoninae: tribes Sphinctini, Phytodietini, Oedemopsini, Tryphonini (addendum), Idiogrammatini. Subfamilies Eucerotinae, Adelognathinae (addendum), Townesioninae. *Nauka*, Saint Petersburg.

Kolarov J. (2003) - New Phytodietini (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae) species from Bulgaria. *Acta Zoologica Bulgarica* 55(3): 43-48.

Kostro-Ambroziak A. (2007a) - Phytodietus alpinator Aubert, 1969 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) new species to the fauna of Poland. Supplementation of the checklist of Polish Phytodietus Gravenhorst, 1829. *Polish Journal of Entomology* 76(2): 115-118.

Kostro-Ambroziak A. (2007b) - A new species of the genus Phytodietus Gravenhorst, 1829 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from Poland. *Annales Zoologici* 57(4): 823-826.

Kostro-Ambroziak, A. & Di Giovanni, F. (2016) - Phytodietus elongator Aubert, 1963 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae), a new species to Italy, and a key to the Italian species of the genus Phytodietus Gravenhorst, 1829. - *Polish Journal of Entomology* 85 (4): 389-398.

Kostro-Ambroziak, A. & Magnusson, P. (2014) - Phytodietus (Weisia) januszi, a new species and subgenus to Sweden (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). - *Entomologisk Tidskrift* 135: 167-169.

Kostro-Ambroziak A., Sawoniewicz J. (2007) - Phytodietus (Phytodietus) antennator kasparyan, 1993 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) a new species to the European fauna. *Polish Journal of Entomology* 76(1): 57-60.

Langlois D., Claude J. & Tissot B. (2014) - Valorisation de 3 années de piégeage par tente Malaise dans les RNN du Ravin de Valbois et du Lac de Remoray. RNF. *Cahier des réserves naturelles*. 4: 121-134.

Loan C.C. (1981) - North American species of Phytodietus and Neuchorus (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae). *Naturaliste Canadien* 108: 331-470.

Roman A. (1938) - Die Arthropodenfauna von Madeira nach den Ergebnissen der Reise von Prof. Dr. O. Lundblad Juli-August 1935. *Arkiv för Zoologi* 30(1): 1-26.

Townes H. (1969) - The genera of Ichneumonidae, Part 1. *Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute* 11: 1-300.

Soumis le 25 juin 2019

Accepté le 8 juillet 2019

Publié en ligne (pdf) le 2 septembre 2019