Stenobracon (Stenobracon) deesae (Cameron)

Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea: Braconidae

Dorsal side more or less uniform yellowish-orange, wings yellowish grey with yellowish brown veins, apical margins brownish, fore wing with three blackish brown spots, hind wing with two fuscous spots (Fig. 1). Ovipositor nearly as long as body. Similar to S. nicevillei (Bingham) in general appearance, differs in the following characters: vertex of female largely yellowish brown (Fig. 3); fifth and sixth metasomal tergites yellowish (Fig. 2). Vein cu-a of fore wing may be far postfurcal (Fig. 4). Metasomal tergites 1-2 longitudinally strigose; tergites 3-4 largely rugose, basal protruding area smooth; tergites 5-7 with moderately long setae. Face of male widened, head dorsally partly yellow, very rarely completely dark; third tergite distinctly sculptured.

Chishti & Quicke (1996) provided a detailed description and keyed both sexes of the species.

 Fig. 1. Adult female, dorsal view
 Fig. 2. Gaster, female
 Fig. 3. Head, female
 Fig. 4. Wing venation

India (widely distributed almost throughout the country); Pakistan; Malaysia; China; South Palaearctic and Afrotropical (Chishti & Quicke, 1996; van Achterberg & Walker, 1998)

It is a solitary larval ectoparasitoid of graminaceous stem borers such as Chilo partellus Swinhoe, C. infuscatellus Snellen, C. sacchariphagus indicus (Kapur), C. auricilius Dudgeon, C. suppressalis (Walker), C. tumidicostalis (Hampson), Scirpophaga excerptalis (Walker), S. incertulas (Walker), S. innotata (Walker), S. nivella (F.), Emmalocera depressella (Swinhoe), Acigona steniellus (Hampson) and Sesamia inferens (Walker) on rice, sugarcane, sorghum and maize and is commonly collected (Chishti & Quicke, 1996; Achterberg & Walker, 1998).

Also known to parasitise Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton), Bombyx mori (L.), Euproctis lunata Walker, Galleria mellonella (L.), Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), and Raphimetopus ablutellus (Zeller) in the laboratory (Shenefelt, 1978).