Scientific name

Platyscelio sp.

Taxonomic position

Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea: Platygastridae: Scelioninae

Diagnosis

Female: Body black, smooth and shiny; extremely flattened; ocelli situated at top of vertex; scape expanded into an almost triangular piece, more pronounced in females; antennal club often 5-segmented; prepectus and skaphion absent; metanotum often with notauli, though faint or incomplete at times; scutellum narrow and short; metanotum unarmed; hind wings with stigmal vein complete; metasoma strongly compressed dorsoventrally and elongate (Rajmohana, 2006).

head Head

Image

Adult  Adult 

Distribution

India: Karnataka, Orissa, Kerala, Uttarkhand (Rajmohana, 2011), Andhra Pradesh (Johnson, 2013), Tamil Nadu, Pudhucherry (Mahalakshmi et al., 2012).

Hosts / Biology

Parasitic in tettigonid eggs (Kozlov, 1970).

References

  • Johnson, N. F. 2013. http://osuc.biosci.ohio-state.edu/hymDB/eol_scelionidae (accessed on 31st July, 2013).
  • Kozlov, M. A. 1970. [Super generic groupings of Proctotrupoidea (Hymenoptera).]. Entomol. Obozr., 49: 203-226.
  • Mahalakshmi, S., S. Manickavasagam and K. Rajmohana. 2012. Distributional records of genera of Scelionid (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) egg parasitoids from South India. Madras Agricultural Journal, 99 (7-9): 576-579.
  • Rajmohana, K. 2006. Studies on Proctotrupoidea and Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera: Insecta) of Kerala. Memoirs of Zoological Survey of India, 21 (1): 1-153.
  • Rajmohana, K. 2011. A checklist of Scelioninae (Platygastridae: Hymenoptera) of India. Viewed in http://zsi.gov.in/checklist/Ckecklist%20of%20%20Indian%20Scelioninae.pdf (accessed 31st July, 2013).

Credits

Factsheet prepared by Dr. A. Rameshkumar, Research associate, NPIB, NBAIR.