Aleiodes seriatus
Creators: name: van Achterberg, Cornelis
name: Shaw, Mark R.
name: Fernandez-Triana, Jose
name: Quicke, Donald L. J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Braconidae
Aleiodes
Aleiodes seriatus

description: Aleiodes seriatus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1838)
Figs 21–25, 26, 27, 28–29 (see also figs 328–340 in van Achterberg and Shaw (2016))
Rogas seriatus Herrich-Schäffer, 1838: 156–12, fig. [type series lost].
Aleiodes seriatus; Papp 1991: 107; Belokobylskij et al. 2003: 399.
Aleiodes vittiger Wesmael, 1838: 112; Shenefelt 1975: 1185; Papp 1991: 107; Belokobylskij et al. 2003: 399 (as synonym of A. seriatus) [examined].
Rogas kuslitzkyi Tobias, 1976: 88, 223–224; 1986: 83 (1995 transl.: 137).
Aleiodes kuslitzkyi; Belokobylskij et al. 2003: 399 (as synonym of A. seriatus).
Type material.
The type series of Aleiodes seriatus (Herrich-Schäffer) is lost; as are the types of other Braconidae described by Herrich-Schäffer (Horn and Kahle 1935–1937; CvA could not find any specimen in the Zoological Museum in Berlin). The original description is rudimentary, and the figure shows only the colour pattern (which is highly variable) and there is a cryptic species in Europe. Considering the description (distinct yellowish base of the pterostigma), origin of the type series (assumed to be collected in the surroundings of Regensburg, Bavaria (his residence)) and its similarity with the lectotype of A. vittiger, this lectotype (♀, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, “ A. vittiger, ♀, mihi, 13 ” (in Wesmael’s handwriting), “ A. vittiger mihi, dét. C. Wesmael ”, “ Coll. Wesmael ”, “ Belgique, Bruxelles ”, “ Lectotypus ♀ Aleiodes vittiger Wesm., 1838, Papp, 1983 ”) is herewith designated as the neotype of A. seriatus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1838) to stabilize the taxonomy of the nominal species A. seriatus and A. vittiger.
Molecular data.
We have barcoded specimens from Albania (Gjurokaster), Bulgaria (Godech), England (Cambridgeshire), France (Ardèche, Corsica, Côte-d’Or, Dordogne, Var), Greece (Meteora), Italy (Veneto), Lithuania (Cepheliai), North Macedonia (Vardar), Serbia (Dukat, Suva Planina) and Spain (Mallorca: S’Albufera) (see Figs 1, 2).
Additional material.
Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands (DR: Borger, Wijster, LI: St. Pietersberg, NB: Tilburg (Kaaistoep), Oisterwijk), Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Turkey.
Diagnosis.
Subbasal cell of fore wing setose apically (aa in Fig. 21; in ca 80 % of ♀ specimens, 50 % of ♂); pterostigma often distinctly pale yellowish antero-basally (Figs 22, 28, 29); hind femur of ♀ 5.3–6.0 times longer than wide (in ♂ up to 7.2 times); if (♀) hind femur partly dark brown laterally then also so ventrally; fourth antennal segment brown or yellowish brown ventrally, similar to scapus (Fig. 28); vein 1 - M of fore wing of ♂ and surrounding area often less darkened than in A. pseudoseriatus.
Variation.
Antenna of ♀ with 44 (2), 45 (10), 46 (16), 47 (20), 48 (16), 49 (5), 50 (2), 51 (1) antennal segments and of ♂ 46 (2), 47 (5), 48 (8), 49 (19), 50 (16), 51 (10), 52 (4), 53 (6), 54 (2), 55 (4) segments. Males have, on average, about three or four more antennal segments than females.
Biology.
The only reared specimen seen is a male, accompanied by the host mummy, labelled as from Lithosia griseola (= Eilema griseola (Hübner), Lepidoptera: Erebidae, Arctiinae, Lithosiini) with the date 23 / 6. [19] 33 from Hatert (Netherlands), in the E. Bauer collection (ZSM). The mummy is compatible, but it is unclear whether the date recorded is of collection or emergence, though probably the latter – but the rearing might nevertheless have been artificially advanced indoors. The host overwinters as a small larva, and presumably the parasitoid does so as an early instar larva inside the living host. It is notable that this increasingly widespread moth is found especially in wet woodland, fen carr, etc., and we have seen a long series of A. seriatus trapped in such places: Chippenham Fen, England (in NMS), and Černiš wetland, near České Budéjovice, Czech Republic (in IECB). We have also seen a female specimen (in E. Bauer collection, ZSM) reared in 1927 in the Netherlands labelled as coming from Malacosoma neustria (= Malacosoma neustria Linnaeus, Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) but there is no mummy present and we discount this as a credible record, not least on the grounds that this moth has a conspicuous and commonly reared caterpillar from which there are no further recorded rearings of A. seriatus (which, at least as an aggregate, is a distinctive entity likely to have been recorded). While capture dates mostly suggest a flight period of June to August into September, we have seen five specimens (including four males) collected in October – as well as a further eight males taken in September. These late males rather strongly suggest that there may be a (perhaps only partial) second generation, raising the possibility that a succession of Eilema species, with differing phenology, might constitute the host repertoire overall.
Distribution
(from material involved in this study): Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, France (including Corsica), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain (Mallorca), Sweden and Turkey.
description: Published as part of van Achterberg, Cornelis, Shaw, Mark R., Fernandez-Triana, Jose & Quicke, Donald L. J., 2024, Resolution of the Aleiodes seriatus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1838) - aggregate in the western Palaearctic (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae), with description of a new species, pp. 241-258 in ZooKeys 1208 on pages 241-258, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1208.127135