Parasitoids in the family Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) new to Norway

Abstract

Chalcidoidea is likely the most species rich superfamily among all Hymenoptera (Noyes 2022). Because of their small size and lack of knowledge, little is known about their species richness and ecology worldwide. In Norway, the estimated number of species is 1750, while the recorded number is only 780 (Elven & Søli 2021). Several studies on the chalcid fauna in Norway have been reported over the years. A few focusing on the family Pteromalidae, are Compton (1981) who recorded several species from sweep-netting in Jostedalen in Vestland, while Bakke (1956), Henriksen (1976a, 1976b), Hedquist 1982, studied parasites and parasitoids from trees infested with bark beetles. Both species in this report are associated with wood-boring Coleoptera species that exploits dead or dying wood as basic resource (Graham 1969). At the right time in the season, parasitoids of wood-boring coleoptera can often be spotted on suitable wood while searching for hosts or aggregate due to mating i.e., around emergence holes (Staverløkk & Hansen 2018). The genus Cleonymus Latrielle, 1809 in the subfamily Cleonyminae, has a worldwide distribution with 44 described species. The species Cleonymus obscurus was described by Walker in 1937. The genus Pandelus Foerster, 1856, has only two species (Noyes 2022), and Pandelus flavipes (Föerster, 1841) was described as Cleonymus flavipes by Förster in 1841. Already in 1904, Ashmaed, renamed the species into Pandelus and moved it into the subfamily of Pteromalinae. Pandelus flavipes, Cleonymus obscurus, Pteromalinae, Cleonyminae, Pteromalidae, Hymenoptera, Norway