Ophion parvulus Kriechbaumer 1879
Creators: name: Johansson, Niklas
name: Cederberg, Björn
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Ophion
Ophion parvulus

description: Ophion parvulus Kriechbaumer, 1879
Figs 8A, 8G, 9D, 51 A–F
Ophion parvulus Kriechbaumer, 1879b: 104–105.
Material examined
Holotype, ♂ (ZSM); 44 ♀♀, 14 ♂♂ (Sweden); 1 ♀ (Italy); 1 ♀ (Great Britain); 7 ♀♀, 2 ♂♂ (Germany); 2 ♀♀ (Estonia).
Diagnosis
Fore wing length 15–16 mm. Antenna with 45–52 flagellomeres. First flagellomere 4.0 times as long as wide. Second flagellomere about 2.5 times as long as wide. Central flagellomeres about 1.5–1.6 times as long as wide. Apical flagellomeres approximately 1.4–1.5 times as long as wide. Apical flagellomeres with short dense quite adpressed pilosity (Fig. 8A). Length of pilosity distinctly shorter than 0.5 times the width of flagellomere. Temple short. Head in lateral view with temple 0.4–0.5 times as long as compound eye in females, slightly wider, 0.6, in males. Distinctly wider than in Ophion paraparvulus Johansson sp. nov. and O. tenuicornis Johansson sp. nov. In female ocelli rather small, touching or nearly touching inner margin of compound eye, the distance between lateral ocelli about 0.5 times the diameter of ocellus. Malar space about 0.1 times as long as mandibular base in female and about 0.2 times in male. Mandibular gape right-angled, with internal angles. Wing membrane clear. Ramellus often distinct, reaching 0.2–0.3 the distance of discosubmarginal cell but sometimes smaller or entirely absent. Radius evenly curved. Mesopleuron shiny or sometimes weakly shagreened with quite weak punctures. Interstices between punctures about equal or slightly larger than their diameter. Epicnemial carina, in antero-ventral view, with pleurosternal angles obviously anterior to sternal angles. Pleurosternal angles rounded, strongly obtuse (Fig. 9D). Scutellum with lateral carinae only indicated basally. Propodeum with very weak rugose structure, quite shiny with anterior and posterior transverse carina strongly raised in females. Anterior transverse carina in males often weak or absent laterally. Petiolar carinae usually weak. Longitudinal carinae delimiting area superomedia and lateral longitudinal carinae often rather strong, but sometimes only indicated at the junction with the posterior transverse carina. Hind trochantellus shorter than wide in dorsal view. Hind tarsus in male and female slender and elongate (Fig. 8G). Fourth segment about 3.0 times as long as wide. Fifth segment as long as fourth. Mid tarsus with fourth segment slender, 0.8–0.9 times as long as fifth segment. Sclerotised part of first sternite ending level or slightly posterior to spiracle. Inner spur of hind tibia as long as 0.4 times metatarsus.
Colour
Body light testaceous. Often with diffuse pale markings on mesoscutum, propleuron, mesopleuron, scutellum and first tergite anterior to spiracle. Mandibular teeth black. Ovipositor sheath testaceous, concolourous with posterior abdominal segments.
DNA barcode
The DNA barcode sequences of nine Swedish specimens of Ophion parvulus are available at the BOLD systems database (www.boldsystems.org, BIN. BOLD: ACU9407. Specimen codes: STI-NJBC: 39, 41, 253–259).
Ecology
In NHRS there is a series consisting of one female and three males reared from the noctuid moth Fissipunctia ypsillon (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775). The type series was reared from Ipimorpha retusa (Linnaeus, 1761). This indicates that O. parvulus is using several hosts, potentially with similar ecology, that are feeding on Salix, among them larvae which live in joined leaves of the host plant. Ophion parvulus is mainly active earlier than O. tenuicornis Johansson sp. nov. and O. costatus, during June–July, at the same time as O. paraparvulus Johansson sp. nov.
Distribution in Sweden
Together with Ophion paraparvulus Johansson sp. nov. the least common of the species previously known under the name O. parvulus in Sweden, occurring primarily in the southern parts of the country.
Remarks
The female of Ophion parvulus is distinguished from Ophion tenuicornis Johansson sp. nov. by the stouter flagellomeres and the slightly more buccate head, from Ophion costatus by the slenderer tarsal segments and from Ophion paraparvulus Johansson sp. nov. by the stouter and less pilose subapical flagellomeres, the usually more distinct posterior transverse carina on the propodeum and the more buccate head (Table 1). Males are usually separable by the shape of the flagellomeres, the carination of the propodeum and the shape of the temples. The species is usually distinctly smaller than O costatus. and the flagellomeres have approximately the same appearance, but have shorter more adpressed pilosity in the female. See Discussion: “The Ophion parvulus aggregate”, for further information on the species status.
description: Published as part of Johansson, Niklas & Cederberg, Björn, 2019, Review of the Swedish species of Ophion (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ophioninae), with the description of 18 new species and an illustrated key to Swedish species, pp. 1-136 in European Journal of Taxonomy 550 on pages 88-89, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2019.550, http://zenodo.org/record/3476402