OBSERVATIONS ON THORON METALLICUM AND TELEAS MEDON (HYMENOPTERA: PLATYGASTROIDEA, SCELIONIDAE) IN THE HALIDAY COLLECTION, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND

摘要

The Scelionidae (Hymenoptera) are endoparasitoids of the eggs of insects and some other arthropods. The family is a large one and some species are important as biocontrol agents (Gauld and Bolton, 1988). The entomological collection of Alexander Henry Haliday (1806-1870) housed in the National Museum is an important nineteenth-century one containing inter alia many types of Diptera, Hymenoptera and Thysanoptera (O'Connor and Nash, 1982). In the Hymenoptera, there are types of scelionid species described by both Haliday and Francis Walker. An account of Walker's life will be found in Graham (1979). As part of their research on the Irish Scelionidae, the authors have been examining the types in the Haliday Collection and in some species, have found new characters which were not given in the original descriptions. By improving the morphological definition of the species, the identification of specimens will be made easier. This paper deals with Thoron metallicum Haliday, 1833 and Teleas medon Walker, 1836.