New records of ichneumon wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from Malta

Abstract

Recently some Maltese Hymenoptera were donated to the Hungarian Natural History Museum (HNHM) and some other material was sent to the Natural History Museum in London (BMNH) for identification by the second author. Amongst these specimens were six ichneumon wasp species new to the fauna of Malta. Ichneumonidae taxonomy and nomenclature follow Yu et al. (2012), and host records were traced through this resource. Identifications were based on keys provided by Szépligeti (1905), Schmiedeknecht (1909), Bajári (1960), Townes et al. (1965), Bajári & Móczár (1969), Townes (1969; 1970a; 1970b; 1971), Horstmann (1976), Gauld & Mitchell (1977), Fitton et al. (1988), Wahl (1993), and Tolkanitz (2007). The voucher specimens are deposited in the Hymenoptera Collection of HNHM, Budapest, Hungary (those indicated by a HNHM id. number below), and some duplicate specimens in D. Mifsud’s private insect collection (CDM) in Malta.