HYMENOPTERA > APOCRITA | Parasitica > Ichneumonidae > Cryptinae > Cryptini

As a point of interest, Cryptinae was our largest Ichneumon subfamily with 529 recognised species when the ‘Checklist of British and Irish Ichneumonidae’ was published back in 2016. It has now been reduced to around 140 species following the subsequent reclassification of the Phygadeuontini tribe, as the genera in that tribe accounted for around three-quarters of the Cryptinae listing at the time. Those genera have now been separated with the former tribe upgraded to subfamily status, Phygadeuontinae. As a result, the current taxonomic structure of Cryptinae includes just two tribes, Aptesini and Cryptini.  

They are readily recognisable from a combination of characters if being closely examined, but are usually far more difficult from photos.

I'm fortunate that I can include three confirmed species starting here with the distinctive short-winged (brachypterous) Agrothereutes abbreviatus, which is rarely recorded, having just four confirmed entries on the NBN Atlas in the past few years.

It disappeared very quickly so I was really pleased to get a couple of decent shots. Although obvious from the photos, Agrothereutes abbreviatus is described as having a basically reddish colouration with a dark final third to the abdomen and a white tip. The hind femora are dark in the apical third and the hind tibia are white at the base. The head is black and the thorax reddish or dark. The antennae are also reddish at the base darkening before the white mid-section before darkening again towards the tip. The ovipositor projects well beyond the abdomen.

Updated, March 25 (v.2)