A Study on the Identity ofBracon hebetorSay andBracon brevicornisWesmael (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

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Abstract
Literature, mainly Indian, pertaining to the recorded hosts ofBracon hebetorSay andB. brevicornisWesm., and on the taxonomy of the two species, has been reviewed. Observations on different morphological characters, including the male and female genitalia, which have been used in establishing the identity of the two species, have been made. A large number ofB. hebetorspecimens reared in Bangalore onCorcyra cephalonica(Stnt.),Ephestia cautella(Wlk.),Adisura atkinsoniMoore and those collected in food-grain godowns, and ofB. brevicornisreared onC. cephalonicaandE. cautellain Bangalore, onNephantis serinopaMeyr. from Coimbatore (South India), onPyrausta nubilalis(Hb.) from Canada and on cotton bollworms (?) from Delhi (North India), have been examined.Differences in colour, relative proportions of antennal joints and punctation on the abdomen have been found to be variable and as such are not to be depended upon for distinguishing the two species. The number of antennal joints which has hitherto been considered to be the decisive character by which the two species may be separated is also not reliable as there is a wide range of variation even in the progeny of a single pair of parents. Above all, the fact that the two species interbreed and give rise to fertile offspring, which also show a fairly wide range of variation in the number of antennal joints, proves that the two are identical, and there is no ground to treat them as two distinct species, at least so far as the Indian specimens are concerned, for whichBracon hebetorSay is the valid name.