Scientific name

Sphegigaster stepicola Boucek, 1965

Taxonomic position

Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae

Diagnosis

Body length 1.5 mm. Body shiny black with bluish tinge, legs yellowish brown (except coxae and hind femur with metallic colouration); antennae dark brown and all funicular segments transverse; wings hyaline. F1 shorter than pedicel. Metasoma oval and petiolate, shorter than mesosoma; petiole length nearly 3x width; hind margin of T1 with its middle portion truncate.

Image

 Female - lateral view

Distribution

India: Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh.

Biology / Hosts

Melanagromyza soyae, Melanagromyza and Phytomyza (Agromyzidae : Diptera) mining the leaves of Helianthus and of Vigna catjang. (Sureshan, 2003).

References

  • Noyes, J.S. 2012. Universal Chalcidoidea Database. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/chalcidoids.
  • Sureshan, P.M. 2003. Pteromalinae (Pteromalidae: Chalcidoidea: Hymenoptera) of Indian subcontinent. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper 205: iii+170pp.