Cotesia icipe Fernandez-Triana & Fiaboe 2017
- Dataset
- Parasitoid wasps (Ichneumonoidea) collected from faba bean fields, Kharga Oasis, New Valley, Egypt, with new records and the description of a new species
- Rank
- SPECIES
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Arthropoda
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Hymenoptera
- family
- Braconidae
- genus
- Cotesia
- species
- Cotesia icipe
description
Figs 10 (A – C), 11 (A – C) [CNC 1179954]
diagnosis
Diagnosis (male). Body length 3.0 mm; generally black, with lateral margins of T 1 - 3 clear yellow, following tergites black, with thin yellow posterior margins; all legs yellowish, with dark brown tarsi, hind coxa black with yellowish apex, apex of hind femur and tibia noticeably dark brown; eyes whitish; mandible reddish brown with black tip. Pterostigma, metacarp, C + SC + R pale brownish, rest of veins lighter in colour. Eye densely setose, length (in dorsal view) about as long as temple; OD 0.4 × OOL, POL 1.3 × OOL; malar space very short, less than 0.2 × eye length; hind coxa conspicuously large, reaching end of T 2; hind tibial spur 0.5 × hind metatarsus; metasomal T 1 with indistinct median longitudinal sulcus; metasomal T 1 1.3 × as long as posterior width; T 2 distinctly longer than T 1, 1.5 × as long as T 1; its width posteriorly 2.1 × its medial length; vein r of fore wing issuing from middle of pterostigma, about as long as or slightly longer than vein 2 - SR; vein r-m arising from vein r + 3 RSa, so areolet is open; vein 1 - CU 1 distinctly shorter than 2 - CU 1; cu-a of hind wing straight.
discussion
Comments: This is the first record of C. icipe for the fauna of Egypt. The collected male is similar to male paratype of C. icipe Fernández-Triana & Fiaboe (see Fiaboe et al. 2017: 54, fig. 2) except for the following combination of characters: metasomal T 2 distinctly wider than long, 3.6 × as wide as long centrally (quadrate in the male paratype); metafemur 4.1 × as long as wide (3.6 – 3.8 × as long as wide in the male paratype); T 1 length centrally 1.3 × as long as its width posteriorly (1.5 – 1.7 × as long as its width in the male paratype); vein r of the fore wing issuing from middle of pterostigma (vein r issuing more distad of pterostigma in the male paratype). From the biological point of view, C. icipe is recorded as being a solitary larval endoparasitoid of Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval) and S. exigua (Hübner) (Noctuidae) (Fiaboe et al. 2017). It is very effective as a biological control agent against lepidopteran pests in small scale farming conditions in Africa (Fiaboe et al. 2017). It was also reported as a very effective biocontrol agent against the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Noctuidea), which has invaded Africa since 2016 (Georgen et al. 2016) and constitutes a high threat to food security there (Mohamed et al. 2021; Obala et al. 2023). BOLD identification number: CNC 1179954
distribution
Distribution in the MENA: Egypt (new record), Saudi Arabia, Yemen (Fiaboe et al. 2017).
materials_examined
Material examined: 1 ♂, Kharga Oasis (New Valley) [25 ° 31 ’ 34.0 ” N 30 ° 37 ’ 19.9 ” E], May, 2022, yellow pan trap in V. faba intercropped with B. napus.