Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Ophion sp.
Posted by Isidro on 18-04-2008 06:57
#1
What species of Ophion can be? I only have this photo.
12th April 2008. Bujaraloz, Monegros region, Aragon, NE Spain. Dry lands, cultivated, with houses and roads (urbanizated). Can be identified to specific level?
Thanks.
Posted by cthirion on 18-04-2008 11:53
#2
So more than 63 articles to the antennas, good chance:D that it is Ophion scutellaris, it is the season and in more it has the marks of colors on the pterostigma, it must also have three dark lines on the mesonotum, if not it is other thing! ;)
Posted by Isidro on 18-04-2008 15:32
#3
Thanks Cthirion.. I'm sorry by the porr quality of the image. The wasp flied far after the first photo.
Posted by Eckart Stolle on 23-04-2008 23:23
#4
Hi cthirion
Do u have by chance some PDFs of Ophionidae? I'm still looking for some literature but its tricky to get in libraries.
Thx in advance
Eckart
Posted by cthirion on 29-04-2008 23:55
#5
I have studied them for 30 years and I can determine only 8 species with safety of them yet, one needs a good collection of reference and one must measure at least ten characters each time!
I believe that it is a group which will have to be re-examined, when one is at the end of the key, one is returned at the beginning, curious!
Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 01-05-2008 00:29
#6
Ichneumonids are not easy. But it is not excuse! So go ahead with it! :D
Posted by ChrisR on 01-05-2008 12:14
#7
I think the big problem with
Ophion spp. is that they are quite variable (in most/all of the keyable features) and species' variability often overlaps. Having tried to use Brock's British key I found them very difficult ... or rather, when you arrive at an identification you are never very confident about it. As cthirion said, having a large reference collection would be essential because it really isn't a group that you can just 'dip your toe into' and make much sense of it. It is 'all or nothing'! ;)
Posted by cthirion on 01-05-2008 12:29
#8
I use the key of Brock, that of Gauld, that of Oosterbroek, and sometimes I do not arrive at the same species! :o
If I send them in the specialists, they often return to me with different names! :(
Thank you Chris for the comment... ah this kid Jorge! :p
Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 01-05-2008 15:42
#9
i KNOW how hard it is the group... I have conscience about the Ichneumonoidea. Even with many years in this group, it is not easy.
Posted by ChrisR on 01-05-2008 17:59
#10
There are some quite easy groups in the Ichneumonoidea - Pimplinae is a family I feel happy to identify with the RES key by Fitton, Shaw & Gauld :) Their only problem is that 'Pimplinae' always keys out at the end of any family key so it helps if you just know what they look like :D
Then at the other end of difficulty/impossibility is Ophioninae :P
Posted by cthirion on 01-05-2008 19:12
#11
Easy Pimplinae,....... in the United Kingdom, to ask PN LIbert a little, for example Dolichomitus! :D