Spaniopus dissimilis Walker 1833
Creators: name: Tselikh, Ekaterina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Pteromalidae
Spaniopus
Spaniopus dissimilis

description: Spaniopus dissimilis Walker, 1833
(Figs 13–18, 40–42)
Spaniopus dissimilis Walker, 1833: 466; lectotype ♂ (BMNH, examined). Type locality: [Great Britain] "near London". Spaniopus elegans Foerster, 1856: 56; holotype ♂, perhaps lost (Bouček 1972: 312). Type locality: [Germany]. Polyscelis modestus Gahan, 1922: 11; holotype ♀ (USNM, not examined). Type locality: [USA] "Pennsylvania, Hanover".
Synonymy by Graham (1969: 705).
Description. Female. Body length 1.9–2.4 mm; fore wing length 1.4–2.0 mm. Colour: head, mesosoma and metasoma dark metallic green with diffuse coppery lustre; antenna with scape yellowish-brown, pedicel and flagellum brown or sometimes hardly paler basally; legs yellowish-brown; fore with or without infuscate spot under M and S; ovipositor sheath dark brown.
Head in dorsal view 2.0× as broad as long and 1.15–1.20× as broad as mesoscutum; in frontal view 1.2–1.3× broader than high. POL 1.0–1.1× OOL. Eye height 1.40–1.45× eye length and 1.2–1.3× as long as malar space. Frons 1.4–1.5× broader than eye height. Distance between antennal toruli and lower margin of clypeus 0.8–0.9× distance between antennal toruli and median ocellus. Clypeus radially striate, its lower margin weakly emarginate. Mandible formula 3:4. Antenna with scape 0.9–1.0× as long as eye height and 1.3× as long as eye length; pedicel 1.7× as long as broad and 1.3× as long as F1; combined length of pedicel and flagellum 0.9× breadth of head; second anellus distinctly transverse, about 2.0× as long as first anellus; F1 1.3–1.4× as long as broad, hardly constricted basally; F2 and F3 longer than broad, F4 and F6 subquadrate; each funicular segment with one row of dense sensilla; clava 1.9–2.0× as long as broad.
Mesosoma 1.5–1.6× as long as broad. Pronotal collar medially 0.2× as long as mesoscutum. Scutellum finely reticulate, about as long as broad, with noticeable but shallow frenal line. Propodeum medially 0.65–0.70× as long as scutellum; usually with median carina complete, costula rarely complete; nucha subglobose and strongly reticulate, occupying 0.5× length of propodeum. Fore wing 2.3× as long as maximum width; basal cell bare; speculum open; M 1.35–1.56× as long as P and 1.66–1.8× as long as S; P 1.3–1.4× as long as S.
Metasoma ovate-acuminate, 1.36–1.53× as long as broad and 1.2–1.37× as long as mesosoma. Ovipositor sheath projecting slightly beyond apex of metasoma.
Male. Body length 1.4–1.5 mm. Colour: antenna with pedicel, F1–F6 and clava yellowish-brown; fore wing hyaline; mid tibia brown. POL 1.45–1.5× OOL. Antenna with pedicel 0.9–1.1× as long as F1; F1–F6 longer than broad; combined length of pedicel and flagellum 1.3× breadth of head; clava 2.6–2.8× as long as broad. Mesosoma 1.8× as long as broad. Fore wing with M 1.0–1.1× as long as P. Inner margin of mid tibia more broadly flattened than its outer margin. Metasoma 0.7–0.8× as long as mesosoma. Otherwise similar to female.
Material examined. GREAT BRITAIN: 1 ♂ (lectotype), “ LECTOTYPE ”, “grass in fields near London August”, “ Spaniopus dissimile Walker ”, “Stood under this name in old B. M. Coll C. Waterhouse”, “ Spaniopus dissimilis (Walk.) ♂ det. M.W.R. de V. Graham, 1956 ”, “B.M. TYPE HYM. 5 1810”, “ BMNH (E) #953702”; 1 ♀, “Ross-shire, Black Isle vii.1951 N.W. Hussey”,“Ex Megastigmus infested seed.”,“Pres by Com Inst Ent B M 1953- 623”,“ Trichomalus near sunides MWG. 1952”, “ BMNH (E) #953704”. SWEDEN: 2 ♀, 2 ♂, “ SWEDEN. SK. Fjellfota sjö. 31.vii.1938 J.F.P. B.M. 1938-414” (all from BMNH). RUSSIA: 1 ♀, “Primorskiy Territory, Spassk- Dal’niy, 30 km W, 3–4.VII.1984, Belokobylskij”; 1 ♀, “Primorskiy Territory, Natural Reserve “Kedrovaya pad’”, 18.VIII.1976, Storozheva” (both from ZISP).
Distribution. Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Netherland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, United States of America (Noyes 2015).
Biology. Primary parasitoid of Mayetiola destructor (Say, 1817) (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae) (Thompson 1958; Peck 1963; Graham 1969; Bouček 1972; Dzhanokmen 1978; Herting 1978; Burks 1979; Noyes 2015); Diplolepis rosae (Linnaeus, 1758) (Herting 1977; Jennings 2004; Askew et al. 2006; Lotfalizadeh 2007; Noyes 2015) and Phanacis caulicola (Hedicke, 1939) (Askew et al. 2006; Noyes 2015) (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae); lepidopteran pupa of Coleophora sp. (Coleophoridae) (Askew 1970; Noyes 2015) and Elachista poae Stainton, 1855 (Elachistidae) (Vidal 1993; Noyes 2015). Secondary parasitoid of hymenopteran Apanteles sp. (Braconidae), Platygaster vernalis (Myers, 1917) and P. zosine Walker, 1835 (Platygastridae) (Peck 1963; Noyes 2015).
The records as egg parasitoids of Erigone atra and E. dentipalpis (Araneae: Liniphyidae) (Vidal 1997; Noyes 2015) should be verified very carefully.
Comparative diagnosis. Spaniopus dissimilis is very similar to S. amoenus, the differences between these species being given in the respective keys to the sexes.
description: Published as part of Tselikh, Ekaterina, 2015, Review of the world species of Spaniopus Walker, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), with description of a new species from the Russian Far East, pp. 41-65 in Zootaxa 4058 (1) on pages 48-50, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4058.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/239870