First report of Hyposoter ebeninus a larval parasitoid of small cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae from Tehran province (Short report)

A survey was conducted to collect and identify the parasitoid wasps of Pieris rapae (L.) (Lep.: Pieridae) and Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lep.: Plutellidae) in cauliflower fields of Tehran province, Iran (N=35°30′, E=51°17′, 1046m a.s.l.) during 2012. Larvae and pupae of P. rapae and p. xylostella were collected and reared separately in plastic jars under laboratory conditions (22±2°, RH= 65±2%, L:D= 14:8) until the adults of butterfly or parasitoids were appeared. Five hymenopterous parasitoids were collected and identified as: Oomyzuss sokolowskii (Kurdjumovo, 1912) (Hym.: Eulophidae), Pteromalus sp. (Hym.: Pteromalidae), Cotesia vestalis (Kurdjumov, 1912) (Hym.: Braconidae), Diadegma anurum (Thomson, 1877) and Hyposoter ebeninus (Gravenhorst, 1829) (Hym.: Ichenumonidae, Campopleginae). The last species is a new record for the fauna of Iran (1, 4). Specimens of this species were deposited in the insect museum of the University of Turku, Finland and Shahed University, Iran.
Hyposoter ebeninus (Gravenhorst, 1829):
Material examined: IRAN, Tehran province (N=35°30′, E=51°17′, 1046a.s.l.), 5 May 2012, 1♀, 15 June 2012, 1♀
General distribution: Austria; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Belgium; Bulgaria; China; Croatia; Czech Republic; Czechoslovakia; Finland; France; Germany; Hungary; India; Italy; Latvia; Moldova; Pakistan; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russia; Serbia & Montenegro; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; United Kingdom (4) and Iran (new record).
Diagnostic characters: Hyposoter ebeninus can be distinguished from its nearest species, H. rhodocerae (Rondani, 1877), by the combination of the following characters: mandibles are pale yellow at the base and the hind tibia apically not or hardly darkened. In H. rhodocerae the mandibles are yellowish red to reddish brown and distinctly black at the base and the hind tibia apically darkened. The important differences are in the host selection and distribution: H. rhodocerae parasitizes exclusively Gonepteryx cleopatra and G. rhamni and has been reported from Germany, Ireland and Italy. While H. ebeninus was known as a parasite of the species of the genera Pieris and Euchloe and distributed in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia to India (2, 4). Hyposoter species are considered as Koinobiont larval endoparasitoids of mostly Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), but also beetle and wasp larvae (3).