Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) collection of the I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology NAS of Ukraine

Study Extent

The dataset contains the biodata of the Aphidiinae collection that is kept in the funds of I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology NAS of Ukraine (SIZK_Aphidiinae). All specimens are fixed, dried and pinned (card mounting method). Each specimen is accompanied by label(s). Aphidiinae collection of SIZK covers most of the territory of Ukraine (18 regions) and various habitat types both natural and anthropogenic. Species were identified using modern identification keys, and identification of some specimens were verified by the leading taxonomists of Aphidiinae.

Sampling

Successful identification to species level in Aphidiinae is only possible based on careful study of morphology, especially head, meso- and metasoma structure. Mostly females are useful for identification, but sometimes males could also be identified. In some cases, mounting on slides is necessary for species identification. Aphidiinae are slender, medium-sized to small insects (typically 2-4 mm). Imago coloration is predominantly dark brown, brown, yellow-brown, and rarely yellow. Venation is often reduced compared to other braconids, except for the genera Ephedrus and Toxares. Ovipositor sheaths are always short. Antennae are usually not very long, often around or less than 20 flagelomeres. Aphidiines are koinobiont endoparasitoids of aphids (Hemiptera, Aphididae); some species are used as biological control agents. Typical habitats for Aphidiinae are dry or wet grasslands, ecotones between forest and meadow, field edges, ruderal habitats, but some species are parasitoids of dendrophilous aphids and could be found in forests or in parks, arboretums or botanical gardens, and other species are associated with ants and could be found in their nests. Therefore, the collection of Aphidiinae was focused on different grassland and forest habitats, as well as agricultural and ruderal areas. The material was collected in a number of expeditions and excursions during the field seasons of 1972 - 2019. Adult Aphidiinae were collected with a sweeping net or reared from infested aphid hosts. Collected insects were fixed in vials with ethyl acetate vapors. During preparation in the laboratory, specimens were mounted on cards and labeled. For identification, the specimens were examined under the following microscopes: MBS-10, Olympus CX41 with Olympus C3040 photo camera, Leica M165 C with Leica DFC450 C photo camera. All the material is kept in the funds of I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv (SIZK) as a part of Braconidae collection.

Quality Control

One of the most important steps in Aphidiinae studying is verifying the correction of specimen identification. Therefore, all newly recorded species in Ukraine or new species in our collection need to be compared with the type specimen or at least the voucher specimen whose identification is undoubted. Also, we were using the OpenRefine (https://openrefine.org/) for checking the data quality and GBIF species matching tool (https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup) for the taxonomic checking opensource software.

Method steps

1. Selection of the sites.
2. Collection of material in the field.
3. Fixation and mounting specimens in the laboratory.
4. Slides preparation in the laboratory (optional).
5. Specimen identification.
6. Cataloging identified specimens and dataset preparation.
7. Data checking and cleaning.
8. Publication biodata on the GBIF.

The dataset covers only the species range of the Aphidiinae subfamily.,

1. Animalia
   rank: kingdom
2. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
3. Insecta
   rank: class
4. Hymenoptera
   rank: order
5. Braconidae
   rank: family
6. Aphidiinae
   rank: subfamily

The dataset covers 18 regions of Ukraine: Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Cherkasy region, Chernihiv region, Chernivtsi region, Donetsk region, Kharkiv region, Kherson region, Kirovohrad region, Kyiv region, Luhansk region, Mykolaiv region, Odesa region, Poltava region, Sumy region, Ternopil Region, Volyn region, Zakarpattia region, Zaporizhzhia region.