Description of five new species of Braconidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) from India

Abstract

Five new species of the Braconidae belonging to the genus Meteorus Haliday of the subfamily Meteorinae viz., Meteorus aurayyus sp. nov., Meteorus hayati sp. nov., Meteorus indicus sp. nov., Meteorus narendrani sp. nov. and Meteorus sharifi sp. nov., are described. A key to the 10 Indian species of the genus is provided.

Keywords:

• Hymenoptera
• Braconidae
• meteorinae
• Meteorus
• new species
• India

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr M. Hayat for reviewing the manuscript and offering useful suggestions. I am also thankful to the Chairman, Department of Zoology, for providing the laboratory facilities. This research was supported by Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi (grant no. SR/FT/LS-065/2008).