#mesoleptidea

You might think Sweden, essentially the birthplace of modern taxonomy, would be one of the last places to find undescribed species, but nope! Many Ichneumonids remain unknown to science, and this might be one of them. It belongs to the genus Mesoleptidea, a genus of sawfly parasitoids. Females can be distinguished from the similar M. cingulata, a very common species in Sweden, by the two white spots above the eyes and the distinct dark markings on the sternites.

Males are much harder to distingush. The basally darkened pterostigma is the only consistent character I've identified.

Another likely undescribed species of Mesoleptidea!

Much like the one a shared a couple days ago, this specimen keys out to the common M cingulata when using existing literature. The dorsally black hind coxae and generally more strongly sculptured body distinguishes is. Preliminary genetic studies also show great divergence from all other Northern European species!