Bracon (Habrobracon) hebetor Say (=Bracon hebetor Say)

Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae

Length of fore wing 1.7-2.6 mm, of body 1.3-2.7 mm. Colour very variable and similar to that of B. brevicornis: pterostigma rather dark brown, with sometimes a large pale basal spot; body nearly completey yellowish brown to largely dark brown or black. Antenna of female with 13-14 segments, submoniliform (Fig.), shorter than length of head and mesosoma combined or of equal length (Fig.); antennal of male with 20-23 segments (Fig.); setae of vertex erect, partly reaching above upper level of posterior ocellus (Fig.); clypeus nearly flat to convex (Fig.); clypeus, face and frons finely granulate; face with some long setae (Figs.); vertex mainly smooth. Mesoscutum largely setose, shiny, smooth; scutellar sulcus narrow and distinctly crenulate. Vein 3-SR of fore wing 0.9-1.2 times vein r, rarely up to 1.4 times (Fig.); veins l-SR and 3-SR short (Fig.); marginal cell of fore wing medium-sized, ending distinctly removed from apex of wing (Fig.); tarsal claws with small acute lobe (Fig. 199). Propodeum superficially granulate or smooth; length of first tergite about 0.8 times its apical width, its surface smooth; dorsolateral carinae of first tergite absent (Fig.); second tergite without mediobasal area; second metasomal suture shallow to rather deep, nearly straight and usually smooth (Fig.); second to seventh segments superficially granulate to (mainly) smooth, shiny; length of ovipositor sheath 0.21-0.30 times fore wing and about twice length of first tergite.

Can be identified by the following characters: Antenna of female with 13-14 segments, shorter than length of head and mesosoma combined or of equal length; antennal segments of male 20-23. Setae of vertex erect, reaching above upper level of posterior ocellus; vein 3-SR of fore wing 0.9-1.2 times vein r, rarely up to 1.4 times.

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Cosmopolitan.

An extremely polyphagous ectoparasitoid, like B. brevicornis; attacking Crambidae and pyralidae in stored products, and in the field other lepidopterous families such as Noctuidae, Tortricidae, and Gelechiidae may also be attacked.

It is a major parasitoid of the rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton), the most widely used factitious host in Indian commercial insectaries and considered as a threat to corcyra production.

The line drawings are redrawn from van Achterberg and Walker (1998).