Collyriinae

Collyriinae Cushman, 1924

Description

Collyriinae is a small subfamily containing 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 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 and 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 weak teeth.

Ecology

One of the two known northern European species, Collyria coxator , has been reared from cephid sawflies who lay their eggs inside the stems of grasses (Cephus pygmaeus and Trachelus tabidus). The female lays one of her eggs in each host egg. The Collyria egg hatches first but stays undeveloped until the host egg hatches. It overwinters inside the host and emerges the next 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. The more common C. trichophthalma can be found relatively far north but C. coxator is limited to more southern regions.

References

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.

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

Gürbüz, F. M., & Kolarov, J. (2006). A review of the Collyriinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Entomologica Fennica, 17, 118–122. https://doi.org/10.33338/ef.84297

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

BugWeb

BugWeb

Keys

Northern European species

Gallery