''Amblyteles armatorius'' is a species of

parasitic wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps ( Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causi ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Ichneumonidae The Ichneumonidae, also known as ichneumon wasps, ichneumonid wasps, ichneumonids, or Darwin wasps, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25 ...

first described by

Johann Reinhold Forster Johann Reinhold Forster (; 22 October 1729 – 9 December 1798) was a German Reformed pastor and naturalist. Born in Tczew, Dirschau, Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772), Pomeranian Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Tczew, Po ...

in 1771.

Description

''Amblyteles armatorius'' can reach a length of 12–16 mm, excluding antennae, which reach about . The head and thorax of this large wasp are black, except the yellow scutellum. The abdomen is yellow and more oval in the females, with broad black bands. Legs are yellow, except the hind legs, that are black and yellow. This species lacks a sting, so the characteristic markings of many aculeate wasps represent a protective mimicry. The female has a very short ovipositor that doesn't protrude from the abdomen. Adults can be usually found in summer on flowers, especially

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

species, feeding on nectar and pollen. The adults overwinter. The females of this parasitic wasp lay their eggs into the caterpillars of moths. When they hatch larvae feed on their hosts, mainly

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family (biology), family of moths. Taxonomically, they are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly ...

and

Notodontidae Notodontidae is a family of moths with approximately 3,800 known species. The family was described by James Francis Stephens in 1829. Moths of this family are found in all parts of the world, but they are most concentrated in tropical areas, es ...

, but also some

Geometridae The geometer moths are moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyleti ...

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family (biology), family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwin ...

Saturniidae Saturniidae, members of which are commonly named the saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor m ...

and

Lasiocampidae The Lasiocampidae are a family of moths also known as eggars, tent caterpillars, snout moths (although this also refers to the Pyralidae), or lappet moths. Over 2,000 species occur worldwide, and probably not all have been named or studied. It i ...

('' Calliteara pudibunda'', '' Odontopera bidentata'', ''

Macrothylacia rubi ''Macrothylacia rubi'', the fox moth, is a lepidopteran belonging to the family Lasiocampidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Distribution and habitat This species can be found from We ...

'' and ''

Saturnia pavonia ''Saturnia pavonia'', the small emperor moth, is a moth of the family Saturniidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Sometimes, the junior homonym, incorrec ...

'').

Distribution and habitat

This species is a

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

species that is present in most of Europe, in the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

, and in the

Oriental realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

.''Fauna Europaea''
/ref> These wasps usually occur in hedgerows, meadows and spruce forest edges.

References

Fabricius, J.C. (1775) Systema Entomologiae, sistens Insectorum classes, ordines, genera, species., Flensburgi et Lipsae. 832 pp. Gmelin, J.F. (1790) Caroli a Linne Systema Naturae (Ed. XIII). Tom I., G.E. Beer. Lipsiae. 2225-3020. (Ichneumon: 2674-2722). Olivier, M. (1792) Ichneumon., Encyclopedie methodique, Histoire naturelle. Insectes. 7:133-224. Stephens, J.F. (1835) Illustrations of British Entomology. Mandibulata. Vol. VII., Baldwin & Cradock, London. 306 pp. ndex, list of plates and errata published in 1845./ref> Villers, C. de (1789) Caroli Linnaei entomologia, Faunae Suecicae descriptionibus. Tomus tertius., Lugduni. 657 pp. (Ichneumon on pp. 134-218) Tischbein, P.F.L. (1868) Hymenopterologische Beitrage., Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung. 29:248-258. Ichneumonidae Insects described in 1771 Taxa named by Johann Reinhold Forster {{Ichneumonidae-stub