Praon exsoletum (Nees, 1811)

Fig. 3 (A, B)

Material examined: 1♀, Kharga Oasis (New Valley) [25°31’34.0”N 30°37’19.9”E], May, 2022, blue pan trap in Vicia faba .

Diagnosis. Antenna with 18 antennomeres, with scape, pedicel and F1 (somewhat darkened apically) yellowish; eyes with sparse short setae; face with central narrow hairless area margined by simple rows of hairs, with sparse setae between such rows of hairs and inner orbits of eye; lateral lobes of mesoscutum with large hairless areas; propodeum sparsely setose; vein m-cu of fore wing colourless throughout; petiole distinctly longer than wide, with indistinct lateral carinae, without elevated area between carinae, with a number of short fine setae along its sides; ovipositor sheath short, rounded apically, with two long spatulate or conical spines, and one longer seta in between spines.

Distribution in the MENA: Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Yemen.

Comments: Characters of the only collected female agree with Starý (1976: 57, couplet 7) as well as Rakhshani et al. ’s key (2019: 65, couplet 25). This is the first record for P. exsoletum in association with faba bean . Its presence may be attributed to the fact that it is one of the primary parasitoids of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, which is one of the most important pests attacking V. faba plant.