Binoy C, Sureshan P M
Independent Researcher, Kozhikode, Kerala, 673303, India.
Western Ghat Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Eranhipalam, Kozhikode, Kerala, 673006, India.
Syst Parasitol. 2025 Jun 9;102(4):41. doi: 10.1007/s11230-025-10236-w.
The water snow flat Tagiades litigiosa Möschler (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), widely distributed across tropical regions, has been the subject of limited studies on its natural enemies. Here, we report the first recorded instance of pupal parasitoids Tagiades litigiosa from South India. A newly discovered species, Brachymeria tagiades sp. nov. is described and illustrated as a pupal parasitoid of this butterfly. Additionally, we record B. bengalensis (Cameron, 1897) and B. euploeae (Westwood, 1837) (Brachymeriinae) and Tainaniella malabarica Narendran, 1989 (Haltichellinae) emerging from T. litigiosa pupae in the same region. An unidentified braconid parasitoid was also observed attacking the larvae of T. litigiosa. Furthermore, the genus Tainaniella Masi is reviewed, with detailed illustrations and redescriptions based on fresh specimen of T. malabarica and type images from various repositories.
水雪弄蝶Tagiades litigiosa Möschler（鳞翅目：弄蝶科）广泛分布于热带地区，但其天敌相关研究较少。在此，我们报道了印度南部首次记录到的寄生于弄蝶蛹的寄生蜂。一种新发现的物种——塔氏短角寄蝇Brachymeria tagiades sp. nov.被描述并绘制成这种蝴蝶蛹的寄生蜂。此外，我们还记录到在同一地区从弄蝶蛹中羽化出的孟加拉短角寄蝇B. bengalensis（Cameron，1897）、优蚬蝶短角寄蝇B. euploeae（Westwood，1837）（短角寄蝇亚科）以及马拉巴尔泰纳寄蝇Tainaniella malabarica Narendran，1989（小寄蝇亚科）。还观察到一种未鉴定的茧蜂科寄生蜂攻击弄蝶幼虫。此外，对泰纳寄蝇属Tainaniella Masi进行了修订，基于马拉巴尔泰纳寄蝇的新鲜标本以及来自各个馆藏的模式图像进行了详细绘图和重新描述。
