Macrosiagon bimaculata (Fabricius, 1787)

Material examined.

GEORGIA - Shida Karlti region • 3♀♀; Gori; 41.9811°N, 44.0921°E; 586 m a.s.l.; steppe, Eryngium sp.; leg. Bulbulashvili N.; 6 Aug 2022; CaBOL-IDs: 1027991, 1027992, 1027993 (Fig. 1) .

Remarks.

The sampling data of Georgian specimens corresponds to that of Iablokoff-Khnzorian (1976), according to whom this species could be found in July-August on flowering Eryngium sp. The species of the Macrosiagon genus are known to be parasitoids of a broad variety of wasps and bees. As in other genera of the subfamily Ripiphorinae, the eggs are laid on different parts of plants where the newly hatched first instar larvae (triungulin) actively attach to the body of the host wasp or bee and are transported into the host nest. A recent study suggested associations with different genera or subfamilies of bees or wasps in species or species complexes of Macrosiagon (Batelka and Hoehn 2007); however, the biology of most of them (including M. bimaculata) remains poorly known.

Distribution.

A Western Palaearctic species known from North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, France, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Montenegro, Israel, Russia, the Caucasus (but not from Georgia), Kazakhstan, Iran (as “Persia”), and Turkestan. From the neighboring territories, M. bimaculata is recorded in Armenia, Turkey, and Ukraine (Crimea) (Iablokoff-Khnzorian 1976; Batelka et al. 2016).