Cremastinae

Description

Cremastines are usually slender and brightly colored wasps, though exceptions exist. Most species are black with the body adorned with yellow areas to a varying degree. A completely unique character for the subfamily is that the spurs of the hind tibia are inserted in separate sockets, separated by a narrow sclerotized bridge, distinguishing it from similar subfamilies such as Campopleginae. Additional useful characters include only one bulla on the fore wing vein 2m-cu, the often large and triangular pterostigma, longitudinal microsculpture on the abdomen and the usually laterally compressed abdomen.

Members of the common genus Pristomerus can be easily recognized by a large ventral tooth on the hind femur, a character not shared by any similar ichneumonids.

Ecology

Cremastines are most commonly found in warm and dry habitats such as costal areas or heathlands. All species that have been reared are solitary koinobiont endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera. They tend to specialize in weakly concealed hosts, such as larvae situated in leaf-rolls, silk webbing or fruit bodies. Some cremastines are known to be superparasitoids.

Distribution

Cremastinae has a cosmopolitan distribution, though it is more diverse in warmer regions. The bulk of the European species are found in the south.

References

Kolarov, J. (1997). A review of the Cremastinae of the Balkan peninsula, Turkey and Cyprus with zoogeographical notes (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Beiträge Zur Entomologie 47(1): 169–199

Horstmann, K. (1990). Die westpalaarktischen Arten der Gattung Pristomerus Curtis, 836 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Entomofauna: zeitschrift für entomologie 11(2): 9-44

Vas, Z. (2016) A new species of Temelucha Förster from Malta with an updated and revised identification key to the Western Palaearctic Temelucha species (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Cremastinae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 48: 67–84

SLU Artdatabanken (2024). Artfakta: Cremastinae. https://artfakta.se/taxa/1000045 [2024-08-25]

Finlands Artdatacenter (2024). LAJI.FI: Cremastinae. https://laji.fi/sv/taxon/MX.309887 [2024-08-25]

BugWeb

Cremastinae

Keys

Northern European genera

Gallery

References