Chalcididae ID help please

[silverfish]

Hi folks,

I photographed this Chalcid today and am having trouble finding an ID despite its distinctive features. It was about 8-10mm and sitting in an Evening Primrose flower. The swollen hind legs are similar to those of Leucospis gigas in Chinery (Western Europe) but this one has much less yellow. There were four spots on the thorax and yellow markings on the legs as shown. The abdomen was entirely black. I had a look for other Leucopsis species online but couldn't see anything to match. (I am assuming it is from the same genus, or at least the same family.) I got the best shot I could in the breezy conditions but spooked it when I tried to hold the flower steady.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[silverfish]

Forgot to mention, photographed in Leicester, UK.

[eucera]

Originally Posted by silverfish

Forgot to mention, photographed in Leicester, UK.

It is a Leucospid. I'll try to find out what spp. we have in UK (I didn't think we had any!!)

[silverfish]

Hi All,

Hope you don't mind me resurrecting this old thread. I haven't been able to get any further with it. (Please note that the photo was taken in July.)

Any further thoughts appreciated.

[hedgerow]

I do not find any records of leucospidae in the uk, although that does not mean a great deal.

When running it through the keys. I found it difficult to see the size and shape of the prepectus from the photo and am assuming that it is reduced.

The next step is the ovipositor, If it is curved dorsally over the metasoma with the tegula narrowly extending forward and the forewing often folded longitudinally then Leucospidae would be right.

Otherwise Chalcididae would be favourite. the head being essentially flat in dorsal view (no horns) discounts Dirhininae and leaves a choice of Haltichellinae or Chalcidinae. The differences between these two sub families comes down to 2 hindtibial spurs = Haltichellinae and one or no spur and the hind tibia being obliquely truncate at the apex = Chalcidinae.

This latter would be my bet and although I have found a sketch that matches prefectly, there is no name by it and no colours either. Non of my keys go further than subfamily in this case.

A quite search in the web has brought up the genus Brachymeria which is incredably close but not quite the right markings,
Brachymeria euploeae (Westwood, 1837)
Brachymeria (Brachymeria) euploeae (Westwood, 1837)
Brachymeria euploeae fasciata Schneider, 1940
Brachymeria (Brachymeria) flavotibialis Husain & Agarwal, 1982
Brachymeria flavotibialis Husain & Agarwal, 1982
Brachymeria hearseyi xanthoterus (Waterston, 1922)
Chalcis euplaeae Westwood
Chalcis (Brachymeria) euploeae Westwood, 1837
Chalcis hearseyi xanthoterus Waterston, 1922

These are as close as I can get though most of them have a yellow tegula.
Male and female marking differences are unknown to me.

[hedgerow]

Brachymeria minuta is the only member of this genus I have a record for in the UK.

[silverfish]

Hi Hedgerow,

Thank you for your thorough reply. I'm severely lacking in references (and knowledge!) here but I'm always happy to learn so I appreciate the detail you have included. I have about half a dozen other images so I'll go through them and see if they show any of the features you mention.

[silverfish]

Having looked at the other images I'm afraid they're not a great help. (I have added crops from those that might contain additional information below.)

There does seem to be a darker triangular shape behind the pronotum on the original image, is this the prepectus?

I couldn't find any evidence of an ovipositor and unfortunately the hind-tibial spurs are obscured on all the images I took.

Brachymeria certainly looks promising, I'll concentrate my efforts there. Thanks again for your help.

[hedgerow]

Originally Posted by silverfish

There does seem to be a darker triangular shape behind the pronotum on the original image, is this the prepectus?

Yep that is the one, in between the pronotum and the tegula, slightly reduced in this case rather than a full equalateral triangle.