Collyriinae

Description

Collyriinae is a small subfamily containing rather morphologically distinctive wasps. The body is elongated and predominantly black, though the abdomen is often reddish. The hind legs are similarly elongated, especially the coxae. The clypeus has a weak apical tooth, and the vertex meet the the occiput almost at a right angle. The fore and middle claws are adorned with a small tooth close to their midpoints. The areolet of the fore wing is absent, the nervellus of the hind wing is intercepted above the middle. The ovipositor is compressed and weakly downcurved, the lower valves with a series of very weak teeth.

Ecology

One of the two known northern European species, Collyria coxator, has been reared from cephid sawflies (Cephus pygmaeus and Trachelus tabidus). It has been observed searching for its hosts relatively large eggs, which are concealed within wheat stems. After locating an egg, the female deposits a single egg into each host. The Collyria egg hatches before the host, though it remains undeveloped until the also hatches. It then overwinters inside the host, emerging the following year. The more common Collyria trichophthalma has never been reared.

Distribution

Collyriinae is limited to the palearctic, where three small genera exist. Only two species of Collyria are known from northern Europe.

References

Gürbüz, F. M., Kolarov, J. (2006). A review of the Collyriinae (Hymenoptera:Ichneumonidae). Entomologica Fennica 17: 118–122.

Broad, G. R., Shaw, M. R., & Fitton, M. G. (2018). Ichneumonid wasps : (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): their classification and biology. Handbooks for the identification of British insects Vol. 7, part 12. Royal Entomological Society of London

SLU Artdatabanken (2024). Artfakta: Collyriinae. https://artfakta.se/taxa/1000043 [2024-08-22]

Finlands Artdatacenter (2024). LAJI.FI: Collyriinae. https://laji.fi/en/taxon/MX.309182 [2024-08-22]

BugWeb

Collyriinae

Keys

Northern European species

Gallery

References