Ophion brevicornis Morley 1915
Creators: name: Johansson, Niklas
name: Cederberg, Björn
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Ichneumonidae
Ophion
Ophion brevicornis

description: Ophion brevicornis Morley, 1915
Figs 8M, 10N, 18A, C
Ophion brevicornis Morley, 1915: 274.
Material examined
Holotype, ♀ (BMNH); 102 ♀♀, 38 ♂♂ (Sweden); 3 ♀♀, 3 ♂♂ (Norway).
Diagnosis
Fore wing length 12–13 mm. Antenna in both sexes with 45–50 flagellomeres. First flagellomere stout, 2.5–3.0 times as long as wide. Central flagellomeres square (Fig. 8M) in females, about 1.2–1.3 times as long as wide in males. Temple buccate with distinct gap between ocellus and compound eye of about 0.3 times diameter of ocellus (Fig. 18A) in lateral view about 0.8 times as long as compound eye. Head in anterior view with face quite wide (Fig. 18C). Malar space about 0.5 times as long as mandibular base in female and male. Mandibular gape right-angled, with internal angles. Wing membrane clear. Ramellus often distinct but rather short, reaching about 0.2 times the distance of the submarginal cell, but sometimes shorter. Radius sinuous. Mesopleuron mostly polished with small, shallow punctures ranging to densely irregularly punctate, almost rugose. Pleurosternal angles weakly acute, well defined, slightly anterior to sternal angles. In this respect reminiscent of O. mocsaryi and O. confusus Johansson sp. nov. Scutellum strongly convex in lateral view with no trace of lateral carinae. Propodeum coriaceous or more polished and indistinctly punctate, to almost rugose in structure. Anterior and posterior transverse carina often strong, but sometimes weaker. Posterior transverse carina often interrupted centrally. Longitudinal carinae delimiting area superomedia often strong, but occasionally missing or weak. Hind trochantellus shorter than wide in dorsal view. Sclerotised part of first sternite ending slightly posterior to spiracle (as in Fig. 6G). Inner spur of hind tibia 0.3 times as long as metatarsus.
Colour
Body testaceous. Mandibular teeth black. Inner and outer orbits very rarely paler than the face, usually concolourous with body and the rest of the head. Ovipositor sheath testaceous-brown, often slightly darker than posterior metasomal segments.
DNA barcode
The DNA barcode sequences of 13 Swedish specimens of Ophion brevicornis are available at the BOLD systems database (www.boldsystems.org, BIN. BOLD: ACR2872. Specimen codes: STI-NJBC: 113–114, 117–125, 336–337).
Ecology
This species is active in early summer from the middle of May to the beginning of July. Oosterbroek (1978) lists Cosmia trapezina (Linnaeus, 1758) as a host.
Distribution in Sweden
Widespread but quite local in Southern Sweden.
Remarks
Ophion brevicornis is a distinct species with its strongly convex scutellum, short flagellomeres, antenna with relatively few flagellomeres and buccate temples. Males can be difficult to identify, especially when attempting to separate them from O. mocsaryi and O. confusus Johansson sp. nov., but are easily identified by the smaller number of flagellomeres, the apparent gap between compound eye and lateral ocellus and the strongly convex scutellum. Females are similar to Ophion subarcticus, but with flagellomeres stouter, gap between ocellus and eye narrower (Fig. 18A) and face narrower (Fig. 18C).
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 51-52, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2019.550, http://zenodo.org/record/3476402