Aphelinidae

The Aphelinidae are a moderate-sized family of tiny parasitic wasps, with about 1100 described species in some 28 genera. These minute insects are challenging to study, as they deteriorate rapidly after death unless extreme care is taken (e.g., preservation in ethanol), making identification of most museum specimens difficult. The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids on Hemiptera, though other hosts are attacked, and details of the life history can be variable (e.g., some attack eggs, some attack pupae, and others are hyperparasites). Males and females may have different hosts and different life histories .

Aphelinidae
Temporal range: Priabonian–Recent
Aphelinus mali
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Superfamily: Chalcidoidea
Family: Aphelinidae
Thomson, 1876
Subfamilies
  • Aphelininae
  • Calesinae
  • Coccophaginae
  • Eretmocerinae
  • Eriaphytinae
Diversity
5 subfamilies
c.28 genera
c.1100 species

They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and are extremely important as biological control agents. The oldest fossils are known from the Eocene aged Baltic Amber.[1]

They are difficult to separate from other Chalcidoidea except by subtle features of the wing venation and other difficult characters, and the family appears to be paraphyletic, so is likely to be split up in the future (e.g., the Calesinae may become a separate family). The families Azotidae and Eriaporidae were recently elevated in rank from subfamilies of Aphelinidae.[2][3]

Genera

References

  1. BURKS, ROGER A.; HERATY, JOHN M.; PINTO, JOHN D.; GRIMALDI, DAVID (2015-04-28). "Small but not ephemeral: newly discovered species of Aphelinidae and Trichogrammatidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from Eocene amber". Systematic Entomology. 40 (3): 592–605. doi:10.1111/syen.12124. ISSN 0307-6970.
  2. Heraty, John M.; Burks, Roger A.; Cruaud, Astrid; Gibson, Gary A. P.; et al. (2013). "A phylogenetic analysis of the megadiverse Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera)". Cladistics. 29 (5). doi:10.1111/cla.12006.
  3. Janšta, Petr; Cruaud, Astrid; Delvare, Gérard; Genson, Guénaëlle; et al. (2018). "Torymidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) revised: molecular phylogeny, circumscription and reclassification of the family with discussion of its biogeography and evolution of life‐history traits". Cladistics. 34 (6). doi:10.1111/cla.12228.
  • Yasnosh, V. A., 1983. Review of the world genera of Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera). 1. key to the genera.Entomological Review 62:145-159.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.