Praestochrysis of the Ethiopian Region with a key and descriptions of new species(Hymenoptera: Chrysididae)

Authors

R. M. Bohart, University of California, Davis, CA

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

October 1986

Comments

Published in Insecta Mundi Vol. 1, no. 3, October 1986. Copyright © 1986 Bohart.

Insecta Mundi, published by the Center for Systematic Entomology, is available online at http://centerforsystematicentomology.org/.

Abstract

Praestochrysis Linsenmaier contains those species of Chrysidinae with five teeth on the posterior margin of tergum III, first flagellomere (F-I) less than 3 times as long as broad (often much shorter), and clypeal length below antennal sockets (subantennal distance) not more than diameter of the midocellus (MOD). The genus is widespread in the Old World, but a majority of the known species are in the Ethiopian Region. Host records are rather few, but it is likely that nearly all species attack moth larvae and emerge from their cocoons. Praestochrysis shanghaiensis (F. Smith) is a well known parasitoid of the silk moth in the Far East.