Seventh International Congress of Hymenopterists

Seventh 

International Congress 

of 

Hymenopterists 

20-26 June 2010 

Programme and Abstracts 

List of Participants 

Editor: George Melika 

Kszeg 

HUNGARY

7 th International Congress of Hymenopterists 

20-26 June 2010, Kszeg Hungary 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Organizing Committee 

János Káldy, 

Chair, local Organizing Committee, 

Plant Protection & Soil Conservation Directorate of County Vas, Hungary 

James B. Wooley, 

Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA 

Michael J. Sharkey, 

Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA 

Andrew R. Deans 

Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA 

Katja Seltmann 


Joseph C. Fortier 

Gonzaga University, Jesuit Community, Spokane, WA, USA 

István Mikó 


Zsolt Pénzes 

Department of Ecology, Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary 

György Csóka 

Hungarian Forest Research Institute, Mátrafüred Research Station, 3232 Mátrafüred, Hungary 

Sándor Cssz 

Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary 

Dominique Zimmermann 

Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria 

George Melika 

Plant Protection & Soil Conservation Directorate of County Vas, Hungary 

Scientific Committee 

James B. Woolley, Texas A&M University, USA, President, ISH 

Michael J. Sharkey, University of Kentucky, USA, President-Elect, ISH 

Andrew D. Austin, University of Adelaide, Australia 

Seán G. Brady, Smithsonian Institution, USA 

Andrew R. Deans, North Carolina State University, USA, Secretary, ISH 

Field Jeremy, University of Sussex, UK 

Michael Ohl, Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany 

Donald L.J. Quicke, Imperial College, UK 

Alex Raznitsyn, Institute of Paleontology, Russia 

Gratefull thanks to Dr. Gellért Gólya, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hungary, 

Department for Plant Protection and Soil Conservation, for supporting the publication of this brochure. 

Note: This publication is not intended to form part of the permanent scientific record; it is therefore 

not a valid publication for the purposes of biological nomenclature. 

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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

P r o g r a m m e 

(presenter in bold) 

Sunday 20 June 2010 Arriving and Registration 

Monday 21 June 2010 

8:30 - 8:45 James B. Woolley, George Melika Welcome and Opening 

Symposium I. A Myriad of Morphology 

8:45 - 10:05 Chair: Matthew J. Yoder 

08:45 Matthew J. Yoder – Introduction 

08:50 Lars Vilhelmsen, Perrichot, V. & Shaw, S.R. -- Past and present diversity and 

distribution in the parasitic wasp family Megalyridae 

09:05 Hannes Baur, Doczkal, D. & Schweizer, M. -- Morphological and molecular analysis 

of Vanhornia leileri Hedqvist (Proctotrupoidea, Vanhorniidae), a neglected European 

parasitoid of eucnemid beetles 

09:20 Zoya Yefremova, Mishchenko, A. & Yegorenkova, E. -- Biology and morphology of 

immature stages of some species of Eulophidae (Hym.: Chalcidoidea), parasitoids 

associated with leafminers (Lep.: Gracillariidae and Gelechiidae) 

09:35 István Mikó, Vilhelmsen, L.B. Gibson, G.A.P., Yoder, M.J., Seltmann, K., Bertone, 

M. & Deans, A.R. -- Towards a compendium of Hymenoptera muscles 

09:50 Deepak D. Barsagade -- Surface ultra-sculptural studies on the antenna, mouth parts 

and external genitalia of the Carpenter ant, Camponotus compressus (Hymenoptera: 

Formicidae) 

10:05 - 10:30 Coffee and Tea Break 

10:30 - 12:00 Chair: Katja Seltmann 

10:30 Ekaterina Shevtsova & Hansson, C. -- Structural colours in Hymenoptera wings 

10:45 Seán G. Brady -- The importance of morphology in the age of molecular 

hymenopteran phylogenetics 

11:00 Gérard Delvare -- Looking inside the head capsule of Chalcididae provides 

informative characters to infer their phylogeny 

11:15 Matthew J. Yoder, Mikó, I., Bertone, M.A., Seltmann, K. & Deans, A.R. -- Four 

years later: the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology, an overview and call for 

participation II 

11:30 Katja Seltmann, Bertone, M.A., Yoder, M.J., Mikó, I., Macleod, E.S., Ernst, A. & 

Deans, A.R. -- Building the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology through exploration of 

the Journal of Hymenoptera Research 

11:45 Group Discussion. Morphology's role in the future of hymenopteran research 

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch 

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Symposium II. Scientific publication, informatics and DNA barcoding 

13:30 - 14:45 Chair: Donat Agosti 

13:30 Yu Dicky & Michael Sharkey -- BracBank – a specimen and taxon-based program to 

facilitate taxonomic research 

13:45 Donat Agosti, Catapano, T. & Penev, L. -- The future of taxonomic communication 

and publishing 

14:00 James B. Woolley & Michael Sharkey -- Group Discussion: A new model for the 

Journal of Hymenoptera Research 

14:30 Smith, M.A., José Fernández-Triana, Achterberg van K., Goulet, H., Hallwachs, W., 

Hrcek, J., Huber, J.T., Janzen, D.H., Miller, S., Quicke, D.L.J., Rodriguez, J., Sharkey, 

M.J., Ward, D., Whitfield, J.B., Zaldivar-Riverón, A., & Hebert, P.D.N. -- An 

inordinate fondness for parasitoid wasps: DNA barcoding data from a global array of 

projects 

14:45 Chesters, D., Vogler, A.P., Smith, M.A., Janzen, D., Hallwachs, W., Fernández 

Triana, J., Laurenne, N.M., Zaldivar-Riverón, A., Shaw, M.R., Broad, G.R., 

Klopfstein, S., Shaw, S.R., Hrcek, J., Hebert, P.D.N., Miller, S., Rodriguez, J., 

Whitfield. J., Sharkey, M.J., Sharanowski, B., Gauld, I.D. & Donald L.J. Quicke -- 

Beyond the barcode to the tree: Ichneumonoid phylogeny and the importance of taxon 

sampling density and strategy 

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee and Tea break 

Symposium III. Biological Control and Economic Entomology 

15:30 - 17:30 Chair: Andrew D. Austin 

15:30 Muirhead, K.A., Andrew D. Austin, Sallam, N. & Donnellan, S.C. -- Biosystematics 

of the Cotesia flavipes species complex (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): Towards the 

effective control of mothborer pests in Australia 

15:45 Robert A. Wharton, Condon, M., Scheffer, S. & Lewis, M. -- Species diversity of 

neotropical tephritid fruit flies and their braconid parasitoids 

16:00 Scheffer, S., Wharton, R.A., Norrbom, A. & Matthew L. Buffington – Proposed 

world wide molecular survey of tephritid-parasitoid associations using fly puparia: a 

new approach to understanding host associations, systematics, and ecology in complex 

tritrophic communities 

16:15 John T. Huber & Fernández-Triana, J.L. -- Parasitoids of Choristoneura spp. (Lep.: 

Tortricidae) in the Nearctic region 

16:30 Stephan M. Blank, Hara, H., Mikulás, J., Csóka, G., Ciornei, C., Constantineanu, R., 

Irinel Constantineanu, I., Roller, L., Altenhofer, E., Huflejt, T. & Vétek, G. – East 

Asian pest of elms (Ulmus spp.) now invading Europe: the zigzag sawfly, Aproceros 

leucopoda (Hymenoptera, Argidae) 

16:45 Erhan Koçak -- Entomophagous complex associated with the insects on Heracleum 

platytaenium (Apiaceae) in Turkey, with new records 

17:00 Hosseinali Lotfalizadeh, Delvare, G. & Rasplus, J.-Y. -- The almond seed wasp, 

Eurytoma amygdali Enderlein (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) of Iran, morphological 

and molecular aspects 

17:15 M. Reza Mehrnejad -- Impact of secondary-parasitoids on population density of 

Psyllaephagus pistaciae in pistachio plantations of Iran 

19:30 Welcome Reception 

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Tuesday 22 June 2010 

Symposium IV. Cynipoids and gall communities 

8:30 - 10:15 Chair: George Melika 

08:30 Matthew L. Buffington & Seán G. Brady -- Divergence estimates and new insights 

into the early evolution of cynipoid wasps (Hymenoptera) 

08:45 Mattias Forshage -- "The Kieffer syndrome" - endogenous taxonomic impediments 

in poorly known groups, as examplified by the taxonomic history of Eucoilinae 

(Cynipoidea: Figitidae) 

09:00 Johan Liljeblad, Nieves-Aldrey, J.L., Melika, G. & Neser, S. -- A remarkable new 

species of gallwasp (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) from South Africa, placed in a new 

tribe 

09:15 Katherine N. Schick, Potter, D. & Shorthouse, J.D. -- A preliminary study of 

molecular relationships within Diplolepis polita (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

09:30 Giovanni Bosio, Quacchia, A., Piazza, E., Ferracini, C., Brussino, G., Melika, 

G. & Alma, A. -- Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu in Europe: current distribution, 

associated parasitoids and biological control (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

09:45 Chang-Ti Tang, Yang, M.-M., Melika, G. Nicholls, J.A. & Stone, G.N. -- Gallwasp 

diversity of Taiwan: testing the Asian Origin hypothesis for the Cynipini 

(Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) 

10:00 James A. Nicholls, Tang, C.-T., Yang, M.-M., Abe, Y., DeMartini, J.D., Melika, G. & 

Stone, G.N. -- Global patterns of host-plant association and phylogeography in the oak 

gallwasps 


10:45 - 12:15 Chair: Graham N. Stone 

10:45 Karsten Schönrogge -- An introduction to gall formation 

11:00 Jack Hearn, Stone, G.N., Blaxter, M., Shorthouse, J. & The GenePool -- 

Investigating the genetic control of gall induction in Cynipid gallwasps 

11:15 Frazer Sinclair, Schönrogge, K., Stone, G.N. & Cavers, S. -- Oak Provenances on 

Trial: the distribution of gall forming wasps at an experimental oak plantation in 

Northwest France 

11:30 Juli Pujade-Villar, Rodriguez, C., Stone, G.N., Melika, G., Penzés, Z., Ben Jamâa, 

M. L., Ouakid, M., Adjami, Y., Bouhraoua, R., Boukreris, F. & Arnedo, M.A. -- 

Evolutionary history and phylogeography of western Mediterranean Synophrus 

inquiline gallwasps (Hym., Cynipidae: Synergini) 

11:45 Jose Luis Nieves-Aldrey & Medianero, E. -- Taxonomy and phylogeny of 

inquiline oak gallwasps of Panama, with description of eight new species of 

Synergus (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Synergini) 

12:00 Graham N. Stone, Melika, G., Ács, Z., Challis, R., Bihari, P., Blaxter, M., Hayward, 

A., Csóka, G., Pénzes, Z., Pujade-Villar, J., Nieves-Aldrey, J.L. & Schönrogge K. -- 

Phylogeny and DNA barcoding of inquiline oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

of the Western Palaearctic 

12:15 - 13:30 Lunch 

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Symposium V. Taxonomy and Systematics 

13:30 - 14:45 Chair: Gavin R. Broad 

13:30 Gavin R. Broad & Wharton, R.A. -- Phylogeny and re-classification of the genera of 

the ctenopelmatine tribe, Perilissini (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) 

13:45 Mehmet Faruk Gürbüz & Özdan, A. -- Hotspots of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) 

Fauna in Natural Protection Areas of East Mediteranean Region in Turkey 

14: 00 Marla D. Schwarzfeld & Sperling, F.A.H. -- Ophion (Ichneumonidae) of western 

Canada: molecules, morphology and species delimitation in a taxonomically 

challenging genus 

14:15 Alejandro Zaldívar-Riverón, De Jesús-Bonilla, V.S.; Rodríguez-Pérez, A.C., 

Ceccarelli, F.S., Reséndiz-Flores, A. & Smith, M.A. -- DNA barcoding the parasitic 

wasp subfamily Doryctinae (Braconidae) from the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere 

Reserve, Mexico 

14:30 Anu Veijalainen, Erwin, T.L., Sääksjärvi, I.E., Wahlberg, N., Broad, G., Gómez, I. & 

Longino, J.T. -- Presenting an on-going PhD project: Aspects to consider when 

estimating the diversity of Neotropical Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) 


15:15 - 16:15 Chair: Jose L. Fernández-Triana 

15:15 Jose L. Fernández-Triana & Whitfield, J.B. -- Challenges, opportunities and future 

strategies in the study of Microgastrinae (Braconidae) 

15:30 Julia Stigenberg -- Phylogeny and systematics of the tribe Meteorini (Braconidae) 

15:45 Neveen S. Gadallah, Ahmad, R.S., El-Heneidy, A. & Mahmoud, S.M. -- 

Ichneumonidae collected from the Suez Canal and North Sinai regions, Egypt (Hym.: 

Ichneumonoidea) 

16:00 Inanc Özgen & Beyaraslan, A. -- Contributions to the Braconidae (Hymenoptera) 

Fauna of Turkey 

16:15 Péter Bihari, Sipos, B., Melika, G., Somogyi, K., Stone, G.N. & Pénzes, Z. -- 

Western Palaearctic phylogeography of an inquiline gallwasp: Synergus umbraculus 

Olivier 1791 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae, Synergini) 

Wednesday 23 June 2010 

Symposium VI. Biology, Behavior, Relationships with Hosts or Prey 

8:30 – 10:00 Chair: James B. Woolley 

08:30 Richard R. Askew, Ribes Escolá, A. & Rizzo, M.C. -- Chalcidoidea associated with 

seed capsules of Asphodelus 

08:45 Alex V. Gumovsky -- Evolution of solitary and gregarious development in 

parasitoids: what we can learn from Entedon wasps (Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae) 

09:00 James B. Woolley, Hopper, K.R. & Heraty, J.M. -- Evolution of host use in cryptic 

species of aphid parasitoids 

09:15 Pablo Fuentes-Utrilla, Nicholls, J.A., Bihari, P., Ernst, J., Marsan, C. & Stone, 

G.N. -- When morphology is not enough: are generalist chalcid parasitoids aggregates 

of cryptic sibling species? 

09:30 Yoshimi Hirose -- Evolution of egg parasitism under water in parasitoid Hymenoptera 

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09:45 Rikio Matsumoto -- Host manipulation by spider parasitoids of the Polysphincta 

group (Pimplinae, Ichneumonidae) 


10:30 - 12:00 Chair: Serguei Triapitsyn 

10:30 Serguei Triapitsyn -- Egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae, Mymaridae, and 

Trichogrammatidae) of Proconiini leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae) 

in the New World and Oceania: recent discoveries and a glimpse into future research 

10:45 Münevver Kodan & Gürkan, M.O. -- Biology of egg parasitoids Trissolcus 

semistriatus Nees and Trissolcus grandis Thomson (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) on 

Graphosoma lineatum L. (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in laboratory conditions 

11:00 Simon van Noort, Masner, L., Popovici, O.A., Taekul, C., Johnson, N.F. & Austin, 

A.D. -- The maritime parasitoid wasp Echthrodesis lamorali Masner (Hymenoptera, 

Platygastridae, Scelioninae) 

11:15 Mark R. Shaw -- Biology of some parasitoids of Apoda limacodes (Lepidoptera: 

Limacodidae) in Europe 

11:30 Keizo Takasuka & Matsumoto, R. -- Oviposition behaviour and infanticide by 

Zatypota albicoxa (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), an ectoparasitoid of a theridiid 

house spider 

11:45 Vladimir E. Gokhman -- Recent advances in the chromosomal studies of the 

superfamilies Cynipoidea and Chalcidoidea 

12:00 – 13:30 Lunch 

Symposium VII. Taxonomy and Systematics 

13:30 - 14:45 Chair: Barbara J. Sharanowski 

13:30 Barbara J. Sharanowski & Deans, A.R. -- A salute to the ensign wasps: molecular 

phylogenetics of Evaniidae 

13:45 Patricia L. Mullins, Sharanowski, B.J., Mikó, I. & Deans, A.R. -- Molecular and 

morphological revision of Evania (Hymenoptera: Evaniidae) of Costa Rica 

14:00 Norman F. Johnson & Musetti, L. -- Progress in taxonomy and systematics of 

Platygastroidea: new taxa, tools, and troubles 

14:15 Charuwat Taekul, Johnson, N.F. & Valerio, A.A. -- Molecular evolution of the 

subfamily Telenominae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) 

14:30 Elijah J. Talamas, Masner, L. & Johnson, N.F. -- Phylogeny and taxonomic status of 

the Paridris (Platygastridae) complex 


15:15 - 16:00 Chair: Kees van Achterberg 

15:15 Kees van Achterberg & Saure, C. -- Revision of the Western Palaearctic 

Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera) 

15:30 Andrew Ernst, Mikó, I., Sharanowski, B.J. & Deans, A.R. -- Revision of the 

subfamily Megaspilinae (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronoidea) 

15:45 Gary A.P. Gibson -- Calosota Curtis (Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae) — pulling the 

proverbial thread of knowledge 

16:00 - 18:00 Poster Session 

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Thursday 24 June 2010 All day excursion – Fert-Hanság National Park 

08:00 Assembly – Sandwich bag lunch for everyone will be served by the hotel 

08:30 Departure 

18:30 Grill Party (BBQ) in the Kszeg mountains 

Friday 25 June 2010 

Symposium VIII. Biogeography and Systematics 

8:30 - 10:00 Chair: Simon van Noort 

08:30 Simon van Noort, Eardley, C. & Robertson, H. -- Hymenoptera of the Afrotropical 

region: diversity assessment and identification guide proposal 

08:45 Denis J. Brothers & Lelej, A.S. -- Re-evaluation of phylogeny and higher 

classification of Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) 

09:00 Arkady S. Lelej -- Biogeography of the mutillid wasps (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) in 

the Palaearctic region 

09:15 Konrad Lohse, Sharanowski, B.J. & Stone, G.N. -- Quantifying the Pleistocene 

history of the oak gall parasitoid Cecidostiba fungosa using twenty intron loci 

09:30 Astrid Cruaud, Jabbour-Zahab, R., Genson, G., Couloux, A., Yan-Qiong Peng, Da 

Rong, Y., Ubaidillah, R., Santinelo Pereira, R. A., Kjellberg, F., van Noort, S., 

Kerdelhué, C. & Rasplus, J.-Y. -- Phylogeny and historical biogeography of 

Sycophagine non-pollinating fig wasps (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) 

09:45 Serguei V. Triapitsyn -- Remediation and curation of the University of California, 

Riverside collections of Aphelinidae and Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) on 

slides: problems and solutions 


10:30 - 12:00 Chair: Stefan Schmidt 

10:30 Stefan Schmidt & Walter, G.H. -- Breaking the bonds of Gondwana – adaptive 

radiation of the Gondwanan pergid sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta, Pergidae) 

10:45 Lars Krogmann & Austin, A.D. -- Australian spider wasp systematics (Hymenoptera: 

Pompilidae) – Clearing up more than 200 years of confusion and misclassification 

11:00 Stefanie Krause & Ohl, M. – Basics First – The Phylogeny of the Brood Parasitic 

Nyssonini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) 

11:15 Volker Lohrmann & Ohl, M. -- Taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of 

Rhopalosomatidae with special reference to macropterous forms (Hymenoptera: 

Vespoidea) 

11:30 Villu Soon -- What do we know about Chrysis ignita (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae)? 

11:45 Takuma Yoshida, Romel, Q., Muller, F., Perrard, A. & Villemant, C. -- The Yellow- 

Legged Hornet Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): a new invader in France 

12:00 - 13:30 Lunch 

13:30 - 14:45 Chair: Justin O. Schmidt 

13:30 Yasemin Güler, Aytekin, A.M. & Dikmen, F. -- Wild Bee Diversity of Sweet Cherry 

Orchards in Sultandaı Reservoir (Turkey) 

13:45 Nil Bariaçik & Büyükakka, S. -- Nest materials and some physical characteristics of 

the nest of Vespa orientalis Linneaus, 1771 (Hymenoptera: Vespinae) in Turkey 

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14:00 Sándor Cssz & Majoros Gábor -- Ontogenetic origin of mermithogenic Myrmica 

phenotypes (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) 

14:15 Justin O. Schmidt -- Defense in honeybees: can bees determine how much is at risk? 

14:30 Kurt M. Pickett & Carpenter, J.M. -- The poverty of partitioned analyses and 

character-type chauvinism 


Symposium IX. Higher-level phylogeny of Hymenoptera 

15:15 - 16:45 Chair: Michael J. Sharkey 

15:15 Ralph S. Peters, Meyer, B., Krogmann, L., Borner, J., Niehuis, O., Schütte, K. & 

Misof, B. -- Daring the impossible - a phylogenomic 2000 species approach to 

Hymenoptera phylogeny 

15:30 James M. Carpenter, Agosti, D., Azevedo, C.O., Brabant, C.M., Brothers, D.J., 

Dubois, J., Kimsey, L.S., Lohrmann, V., Ohl, M., Packer, L. & Schulmeister, S. -- 

Phylogeny of the Aculeata: Results of the Hymatol Taxonomic Working Group 

15:45 Heraty J.M., Burks, R., Munro, J., Liljeblad, J., Yoder, M. & Elizabeth Murray -- 

Relationships of Chalcidoidea: a Molecular and Morphological Approach 

16:00 Michael J. Sharkey, Carpenter, J.M., Vilhelmsen, L., Heraty, J.M., Ronquist, F., 

Deans, A.R., Dowling, A.P.G., Hawks, D., Schulmeister, S. & Wheeler, W.C. -- 

Morphology and molecules, the first comprehensive, total evidence, phylogenetic 

analysis of the Hymenoptera 

16:45 - 17:00 Short Break 

17:00 ISH Business Meeting 

19:00 Congress Dinner 

Saturday 26 June 2010 -- Departure and Collecting day 1 – vicinity of Kszeg 

Sunday 27 June 2010 -- Collecting day 2 – near Balaton Lake. Lunch in the forest 

Monday 28 June 2010 -- Collecting day 3 – rség, south of Hungary. Lunch in the forest 

Tuesday 29 June 2010 -- Departure 

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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

List of Posters 

(presenter in bold) 

Alizadeh Esmaeil & S.E.Sadeghi -- Population dynamics of alfalfa weevil parasitoids in West 

Azarbaijan (Iran) 

Barkan Nezahat Pınar & A.M. Aytekin -- Comparing wing shapes of the subspecies Bombus 

(Thoracobombus) sylvarum citrinofasciatus and Bombus (Thoracobombus) sylvarum 

daghestanicus (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus Latreille) using landmark based geometric 

morphometrics 

Bertone Matthew A., I. Mikó, M.J. Yoder, K. Seltmann & A.R. Deans -- Aligning insect anatomy 

ontologies: identifying congruence between Hymenoptera and Diptera 

Boyadzhiev Peter S., A.D. Donev & T.S. Gechev -- A new mechanical modification of an insect 

manipulator 

Breitkreuz Laura & M. Ohl -- Bizzare Wasps on the Island New Caledonia – A Revision of the 

Genus Arpactophilus (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) 

Budrien Anna, Ž. Nevronyt & E. Budrys -- Body weight change during the development of solitary 

wasp Symmorphus allobrogus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) 

Budrys Eduardas, A. Budrien & Ž. Nevronyt -- Dependence of brood cell length on nesting cavity 

width in xylicolous solitary wasps of genera Ancistrocerus and Symmorphus (Hymenoptera: 

Vespidae: Eumeninae) 

Budrys Eduardas & A. Budrien -- Assessment of anthropogenic impact at landscape scale using trapnesting 

wasp and bee community in Europe 

Dias Filho Manoel Martins, M. Geraldo, A.M. Penteado-Dias & A.F. Herrera Flórez -- Hymenoptera 

parasitoids of immature stages of Geometridae (Lepidoptera), associated with plants of a subnative 

forest in the state of São Paulo, Brazil 

Early John W., L. Masner & D.F. Ward -- Parasitic wasps of the Proctotrupoidea, Platygastroidea and 

Ceraphronoidea in New Zealand: review and analysis 

Falco-Gari Jose Vicente, M.T. Oltra-Moscardo, F.J. Peris-Felipo & R. Jimenez-Peydro -- Exotic fig 

pollinators and associates (Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae) of Ficus trees in Europe 

Falco-Gari Jose Vicente, M.T. Oltra-Moscardo, F.J. Peris-Felipo & R. Jimenez-Peydro -- Diversity of 

Heloridae (Proctotrupoidea) in a protected natural area in Spain 

Fusu Lucian -- Tracing the geographical origin of Eupelmus vesicularis and a molecular taxonomic 

analysis of the Eupelmus vesicularis species-complex 

Fursov Viktor N. -- The importance of morphological characters in the taxonomy of egg-parasitoids 

of the family Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) 

Fursov Viktor N. -- Life-cycle of a fig wasp Blastophaga psenes L. (Hymenoptera, Agaonidae) as 

obligate pollinator and gall-former in Ficus carica L. (Magnoliopsida) in Crimea, Ukraine 

Gess Sarah K. & Gess Friedrich W. -- Flower visiting by sand wasps in southern Africa 

Gokhman Vladimir E. -- Chromosomes of Xyela julii (Xyelidae) and karyotype evolution in the order 

Hymenoptera 

Gómez J.F., R.R. Askew & Jose Luis Nieves-Aldrey -- Foodweb structure and diversity of parasitoid 

communities (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) of herb gallwasps (Hym., Cynipidae) inducing 

galls on Lamiaceae 

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Gómez J.F., R.R. Askew & Jose Luis Nieves-Aldrey -- Larval morphology of Pteromalidae (Hym., 

Chalcidoidea) parasitoids of gallwasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) in Europe 

Gratiashvili Nana, B. Seifert & S. Barjadze -- Diversity and distribution of the Formica species in 

Georgia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) 

Guz N., Erhan Kocak, A.E. Akpinar, M.O. Gürkan & A.N. Kilincer -- First record of Wolbachia in 

Trissolcus species (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) 

Haghighian, F. & Seyed Ebrahim Sadeghi -- Some biological aspects of a seed pest wasp, 

Bruchophagus astragali (Hym.: Eurytomidae), in rangelands of Chaharmahal & Bakhtiary 

province of Iran 

Hilszczaski Jacek -- New data on the occurrence of stephanids (Hymenoptera, Stephanidae) in 

Turkey and Greece 

Holy Kamil -- Research of the family Ichneumonidae in the Czech Republic 

Hu Hongying -- The resources of Trichogrammatidae and Mymaridae and their utilization in 

biological control in Xinjiang, China 

Izquierdo Moya Isabel, J.M. Cano & C.M. Albadalejo -- EOS, Revista ibérica de Entomología, soon 

available online 

Izquierdo Moya Isabel -- Contribution of EOS, Revista Española de Entomología, (1925-1994) to the 

knowledge of the Hymenoptera 

Janšta Petr -- Updates to the evolution of torymids (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) 

Japoshvili George -- Morphometrics and host information for the support of phylogenetic relations in 

genera Microterys Thomson and Aschitus Mercet (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) 

Jiao Tian-Yang & Hui Xiao -- Preliminary Investigation of Chalcidoidea in Hainan Island, China 

Karlsson Dave -- The Swedish Malaise Trap Project. One step further! 

Kirpik Mehmet Ali -- Field observations on the defense and hunting behaviour of Pompilidae 

(Hymenoptera: Insecta) species 

Kirschey Lukas & M. Ohl -- A review of the wasp genus Lyroda from Thailand (Hymenoptera: 

Apoidea) 

Klopfstein Seraina, D. Quicke & C. Kropf -- The evolution of antennal courtship in parasitoid wasps 

of the subfamily Diplazontinae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) 

Kolesova Natalia S. -- Trophical links of Bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Bombus) in Vologda 

Region of Russia 

Konishi Kazuhiko -- Taxonomy of the genus Eurypterna with biological notes on E. cremieri 

(Ichneumonidae, Hybrizontinae) 

Kos Katarina, Ž. Tomanovi, A. Petrovi, J. Jakše & S. Trdan -- The separation of cereal aphid 

parasitoids, Aphidius rhopalosiphi, A. uzbekistanicus and A. avenaphis (Hymenoptera: 

Aphidiinae), using mt-DNA (COI) sequences 

Krogmann Lars & R.A. Burks -- Rare giants – A review of Leptofoeninae (Chalcidoidea: 

Pteromalidae) and discovery of the first Doddifoenus from Indomalaya 

Loffredo Ana Paula da Silva, A.M. Penteado-Dias, J.F. Sobczak & M. de Oliveira Gonzaga -- 

Contributions to knowledge of Pimplinae wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from Brazil 

Lohrmann Volker, L. Kirschey, S. Krause, M. Schulze & M. Ohl -- TIGER wasps – a preliminary 

review of the apoid wasp diversity in Thailand 

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Lotfalizadeh Hosseinali & M.-H. Kazemi -- Hymenopterous parasitoids of safflower fruit flies 

(Diptera: Tephritidae) in Iran 

Masnady-Yazdinejad Ashkan -- The first braconid species record of subfamily Charmontinae from 

Iran: Charmon extensor (L.) (Hym., Braconidae, Charmontinae) 

Masnady-Yazdinejad Ashkan -- The ichneumonid parasitoids (Hym., Ichneumonidae) of 

Yponomeuta malinellus Zeller (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) in Iran 

Masnady-Yazdinejad Ashkan -- Two newly recorded ichneumonid species as parasitoid wasp of 

Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from Iran 

Matsuo Kazunori, M. Tokuda, K. Kiritani, M. Mishima & J. Yukawa -- Comparison of parasitoid 

communities between insular and mainland populations of Pseudasphondylia neolitseae 

(Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in the Izu district, Japan 

Medianero, E. & José Luis Nieves-Aldrey -- Systematics and diversity of oak gallwasps 

(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) of Panama 

Mete Özlem & A. Demirsoy -- A preliminary study on the gallwasp fauna of Kemaliye (Turkey), with 

a new record for Turkey (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

Mitroiu Mircea-Dan -- A second European species of Netomocera Bouek (Hymenoptera: 

Pteromalidae: Diparinae), with notes on other diparines 

Mottern Jason L. & J.M. Heraty -- Calesinae: morphological examination and molecular 

phylogenetics of an enigmatic chalcidoid taxon 

Murray Elizabeth, J.M. Heraty, D. Hawks & A. Carmichael -- Molecular Phylogeny of Eucharitidae 

Nevronyt, Ž., Eduardas Budrys & A. Budrien -- The effects of prey abundance on nesting behavior 

of solitary wasp Symmorphus allobrogus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) 

Nguyen, H.T., R.T. Ichiki, S.-I. Takano & S. Nakamura -- Parasitization of Tetrastichus brontispae, a 

potential biological control agent of the coconut hispine beetle Brontispa longissima 

Noyes John S. -- An inordinate fondness of beetles? Even more fond of microhymenoptera! 

Österblad Ika & N.R. Fritzén -- Rare in collections, common in the forest – the occurrence of the 

pimpline spider parasitoid Reclinervellus nielseni in Finland 

Özgen nanç & H. Bolu -- The chalcidoid parasitoids of Coccoidea in southeastern Anatolia Region of 

Turkey 

Paretas-Martínez J., C. Restrepo-Ortiz, M. Buffington & Juli Pujade-Villar -- New systematics of 

Australian Thrasorinae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae) with a description of two new 

genera and a new subfamily 

Penteado-Dias Angélica M. -- New records of Braconidae (Hymenoptera) genera from Brazil in the 

state of São Paulo 

Penteado-Dias Angélica M. & M.M. Dias Filho -- What is “the news” about the institute of 

studies on parasitoid Hymenoptera from southeastern Brazil – HYMPAR-SUDESTE ? 

Peris-Felipo Francisco Javier, J.V. Falcó-Garí, M.T. Oltra-Moscardó & R. Jiménez Peydró -- 

Diversity of Alysiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in protected areas from the Comunidad 

Valenciana, Spain 

Peris-Felipo Francisco Javier, J.V. Falcó-Garí, M.T. Oltra-Moscardó & R. Jiménez Peydró -- Habitat 

distribution patterns of Alysiinae community (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in a forest reserve in 

Spain 

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Peters Ralph S. & R. Abraham -- Little known facts about a well known hymenopteran: on the field 

life history of Nasonia vitripennis (Walker, 1836) (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) 

Popescu Irinel E. -- Confirmation of the species rank of Torymus macrurus (Föerster, 1859) 

(Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Torymidae) 

Popovici Ovidiu A. -- The maxillo-labial complex in scelionid wasps (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea) 

Pricop Emilian -- First record of Dicopus minutissimus Enock (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) from the 

European mainland 

Rahemi, S., S.E. Sadeghi, E. Rakhshani, S. Moharramipour, M. Shojai & S. Zeinali -- Parasitoids 

wasps reported on willow aphids in Iran 

Reshchikov Alexey -- New species of the genus Lathrolestes (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from 

the World 

Sadeghi S. Ebrahim, Melika, G., Stone, GN., Assareh, M.A., Askary, H., Tavakoli, M., Yarmand, H., 

Azizkhani, E., Zargaran, M.R., Barimani, H., Dordaii, A.A., Aligholizadeh, D., Salehi, M., 

Mozafari, M., Golestaneh, R., Zeinali, S., Mehrabi, A. -- Oak gallwasp fauna of Iran 

(Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) 

Shayesteh Nouraddin -- Study on the biology and efficiency determination testes of Habrobracon 

hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on larvae of Plodia interpunctella Hübner 

(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) 

Shevtsova Ekaterina & C. Hansson -- Structural colours in Hymenoptera wings 

Sparks K.S., Andrew D. Austin, A.N. Andersen, S.O. Shattuck, & S.C. Donnellan -- The ant genus 

Monomorium in Australia: morphological plasticity or cryptic diversity? 

Szabó Gyula, R. Horváth, E. Zakar, L. Kozák, S. Lengyel -- The effect of grassland restoration on bee 

communities – a preliminary study in Hortobágy National Park, Hungary 

Stojanova Anelia, H.S. Civelek , B. Yörük, S. Sarı & T. Atahan -- Turkish Eurytomidae and 

Torymidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea): published data and new records 

Talamas Elijah J. -- Montage Ultra: High Resolution Imaging of Parasitic Hymenoptera 

Tavakoli Majid, G. Melika, S.E. Sadeghi, R.R. Askew, G.N. Stone, H. Barimani, D. Aligholizadeh, 

Ali asghar Dordaii, H. Yarmand, M.R. Zargaran & S. Mozafarian -- Parasitoid communities 

(Chalcidoidea) of oak gallwasps of Iran (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

Tavakoli Majid, G. Melika, S.E. Sadeghi, R.R. Askew, G.N. Stone, H. Barimani, D. Aligholizadeh, 

Ali asghar Dordaii, H. Yarmand, M.R. Zargaran & S. Mozafarian -- Oak cynipid gall 

inquilines of Iran (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini) 

Triapitsyn Serguei V. -- Remediation and curation of the University of California, Riverside 

collections of Aphelinidae and Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) on slides: problems 

and solutions 

Turinaviien J., A. Budrien, Eduardas Budrys & R. Radzeviit -- Mitochondrial COI gene 

sequence in European Eumeninae wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): intra-specific diversity 

and applicability for DNA barcoding 

Turrisi Giuseppe F. & D.R. Smith -- Systematic and phylogeny of the endemic south-eastern Asiatic 

Pristaulacus comptipennis species group (Hymenoptera Evanioidea: Aulacidae) 

Vårdal Hege -- The gallwasp venom apparatus 

Wachi Nakatada & Y. Abe -- Taxonomic notes on the oak gall wasp Callirhytis hakonensis Ashmead 

(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), with description of the sexual generation 

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Yarmand Hamid, S.E. Sadeghi, V.-R. Moniri -- Seed affecting wasps of none-legume forage plants in 

Iran 

Yousuf Mohammad -- Record on Indian species of Trichogramma Westwood, along with two new 

species, their host range and application against forest insect pests 

Zimmermann Dominique & J. Schmidl -- Hymenopterans on tree barks along climatic and altitudinal 

gradients in Ecuador 

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ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS 

(* = presenter) 

Revision of the West Palaearctic Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera) 

Kees van Achterberg 1* & C. Saure 2 

1 Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The 

Netherlands; achterberg@naturalis.nnm.nl 

2 Büro für tierökologische Studien, Am Großen Wannsee 2, 14109 Berlin, Germany; 

saure-tieroekologie@t-online.de 

The Gasteruptiidae are worldwide distributed but with more species in tropical than in 

temperate areas. The family contains six valid genera with about 500 valid species, mostly 

belonging to the subfamily Gasteruptiinae. Gasteruptiidae first devour the egg or young larva 

of the solitary host bee (Apidae s.l.) and develop mainly on the bee food. Solitary wasps 

(Vespidae-Eumeninae and Crabronidae) are also reported as hosts, but the reports concern 

double nests. The subfamily Gasteruptiinae contains three Neotropical genera and the 

cosmopolitan genus Gasteruption Latreille. Gasteruption is still unknown from Polynesia and 

Hawaii and it is apparently most diverse in the Australian and Afrotropical regions. The world 

species are monographed by Kieffer (1912) and catalogued by Hedicke (1939). Useful are the 

following keys to part of the European species: Šedivý (1958; Czechoslovakia), Oehlke 

(1984; Germany), Madl (1988; Sardinia) and Pagliano & Scaramozzino (2000; Italy). The 

distribution and the synonymy of European species (excluding Caucasus) are given by Madl 

(2004). In the West Palaearctic region we have only the genus Gasteruption Latreille. 

According to the FE database (Madl 2004) there are 30 European valid species, but our 

revision revealed 18 new synonyms, two species with new status and one extension of an 

Asian species. It results in a provisional total of 28 described valid species of Gasteruption in 

Europe. Up to now three undescribed species have been found in Europe and in addition 

several undescribed species in Asiatic Turkey. A short overview of the first results of the 

revision will be presented. 

____________________________________ 

The future of taxonomic communication and publishing 

Donat Agosti 1 *, Terry Catapano 2 & Lyubomir Penev 3 

1 Plazi, Switzerland/Iran; agosti@amnh.org 

2 Plazi, Switzerland/USA; catapano@plazi.org 

3 Pensoft, Bulgaria; lyubo.penev@gmail.com 

Publishing taxonomic work has multiple functions, not least to communicate and share 

results, get credit for scientific discovery and document the progress in the knowledge in the 

domain. The printed work in respective scientific journals, accessible through a ubiquitous 

library system as part of our scientific infrastructure has been its cornerstone, supplemented 

by an exchange of reprints by mail. 

The advantage of having a printed record dating back to 1758 is today hugely outdated by its 

deficiencies compared to what the digital world now has to offer: immediate access, 

discoverability, linkage to underlying data and other external resources, data mining over 

large amount of documents, the use of shared vocabularies and archiving. This all moves 

these publications and in fact the underlying science much closer to the scientific criteria of 

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reproducibility: essentially every body could have access to all the data, including protocols 

and programs to reproduce and challenge a piece of research. 

In this lecture aspects of state of the art and future developments concerning taxonomic 

publishing will be discussed. A first part will discuss efforts to digitize legacy publications, 

enhance it with semantic mark-up and links to external databases such as Zoobank, the 

Hymenoptera Name Server, Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology, individual collections through 

Life Science Identifiers or equivalent, GenBank, and how it’s access is improved by 

applications allowing to harvest specific elements from these publications. An assessment of 

the costs and benefits will lead to the second part, prospective publishing. At center will be 

the National Library of Medicine Document Tape Definition (NLM DTD) for publishing and 

archiving that has been customized for the taxonomic domain (taxpub). Its use in a journal 

production workflow will be explained that is being developed in collaboration with Pensoft, 

the future publisher of our Journal of Hymenoptera Research. This includes the generation of 

a manuscript to its dissemination as peer reviewed journal article, the linking to external 

resources such as Zoobank, image banks, GenBank etc. 

Finally this change of paradigm from an emphasis of print/archive to digital/access, and its 

implication for our taxonomic infrastructure, such as access to databases, shared vocabularies 

or ontologies, its dissemination and reuse, open access, and not least the social changes that 

this might imply, will be explained. 

The lecture is based on the experiences from building antbase and its pdf repository for ant 

taxonomic publications, Hymenoptera Name Server, the fledgling Zoobank, Plazi, Taxpub 

and Taxonx XML schemas, developing of Zookeys as a taxpub XML based online journal 

and Journal of Hymenoptera Research that is under development. 

____________________________________ 

Chalcidoidea associated with seed capsules of Asphodelus 

Richard R. Askew 1 *, A. Ribes Escolá 2 & Maria C. Rizzo 3 

1 5, Beeston Hall Mews, Brook Lane, Beeston, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 9TZ, U.K.; olynx@btinternet.com 

2 c/Lleida 36, 25170 Torres de Segre, Lleida, Spain; tnribes@wanadoo.es 

3 SENFIMIZO Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy; 

macoriz@unipa.it 

Seeds of Asphodelus (Liliaceae) were known, prior to the present study, to be infested by a 

single species of Eurytomidae, Eurytoma asphodeli Hedqvist, and by parasitic species in the 

tetrastichine genus Puklina. In our research E. asphodeli was the chalcid reared most 

commonly from the seeds and at first it was thought to be phytophagous. However, it belongs 

to the robusta-group of species, the great majority of which are entomophagous, and the 

structure of the occipital surface of the head with a strong postgenal carina and complete 

postgenal groove, is correlated with larval entomophagy. Probable hosts of E. asphodeli are 

some undescribed species of Eurytomidae, provisionally attributed to Bruchophagus. These 

species have an occiput that is characteristic of phytophagous Eurytomidae, lacking a 

postgenal carina and with an incomplete postgenal groove. E. asphodeli can have at least two 

generations a year, adults emerging both in the calendar year of seed formation and after 

overwintering, but the Bruchophagus species are predominantly univoltine, almost all 

individuals emerging in spring after overwintering inside the seeds as fully grown larvae. 

The pteromalid Pteromalus tethys Gijswijt and a eupelmid in Eupelmus urozonus Dalman 

agg. have also been reared from asphodel seeds, P. tethys as an ectoparasitoid of eurytomid 

larvae and E. urozonus as a secondary parasitoid of P. tethys. A species of Puklina, perhaps P. 

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depilata Graham, was reared in large numbers as a gregarious parasitoid of Eurytomidae in A. 

cerasiferus seeds, and other slightly different Puklina but possibly only variants of P. 

depilata, emerged in smaller numbers from seeds of other asphodel species. 

Microlepidoptera larvae, probably Tortricidae but not yet identified, are common in asphodel 

seed capsules in which they consume the seeds. They are attacked by Ichneumonidae, 

Braconidae, Hyssopus nigritulus (Zetterstedt) (Eulophidae), and by P. tethys and E. urozonus 

agg. which may also develop on the Eurytomidae. 

Species of Eurytomidae and Puklina encountered in this study appear to be associated only 

with asphodels, and there is evidence that different Asphodelus species support differing 

faunas of Eurytomidae and Puklina. The Bruchophagus in A. ramosus (aestivus auct.) seeds 

in Sicily has six segments in the female antennal funicle, five in the male, whereas in 

specimens reared from A. albus in the French and Spanish Pyrénées the clava in both sexes 

has more or less ‘captured’ a funicle segment, and wing pilosity is white. The form of E. 

asphodeli in seeds of A. cerasiferus is larger and has more extensively red legs than E. 

asphodeli from A. ramosus and A. albus, and the Bruchophagus in A. fistulosus seeds is a 

species distinct from that found in other species of asphodel. 

____________________________________ 

Nest materials and some physical characteristics of the nest of Vespa orientalis L., 1771 

(Hymenoptera: Vespinae) in Turkey 

Nil Bariaçik 1 * & Selva Büyükakka 2 

1 University of Nide, Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of Biology, TR-51100 Nide, Turkey; 

nilbagriacik@hotmail.com 

2 University of Nide, Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of Physic, TR-51100 Nide, Turkey; 

selvabuyukakkas@mynet.com 

The species of Vespinae use pulp gathered from nearby environment to make their nest by 

chewing and mixing it with their saliva. In the plant material choice of social wasps, there is a 

significant variation: worn or fresh wood fiber, plant feathers, short plant scrapings, inorganic 

materials, etc. Vespa prefers dead parts of live trees and worn woods, and tree bark as their 

nest material. In addition to plant fiber, they also add soil and mud to their nests. According to 

the characteristics of nest location, there might be inorganic materials in Vespa orientalis’s 

nests. The selected material, the amount of salvia and chewing duration determine the 

physical features of the nest. In this study, we aim to determine the nest material and its 

physical features of a nest of Vespa orientalis in Nigde/Turkey. 

The nest surface was monitored by stereomicroscope and Scanning Electron Microscope. The 

thickness of plant fibers was measured. An EDX analysis was carried out in order to 

determine the presence of structural organic and inorganic elements and their amount. The 

percentage of plant material and salvia in the structure of the nest was measured. The water 

absorption capacity of the nest was calculated and the relationship between the fiber thickness 

and the water absorption capacity was statistically analyzed. 

Vespa orientalis constructed the nest inside the wall made by soil. At the nest, there was no 

envelope. At the comb, there are beige, yellowish and brownish linings. The plant fibers were 

observed to be short and thick at the images taken by Stereo Microscope and Scanning 

Electron Microscope. There are inorganic materials, especially soil, between the fibers. The 

average thickness of the fiber is 13,47 m. It is founded in EDX analysis that the 

concentration of nitrogen is 18,75 % and of silicon higher than the other elements. The 

percentage of the fiber was calculated to be 20%, saliva 80%, and the water absorption 

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capacity 91%. Conclusively, no statistically significant relationship was observed between 

the nest's water absorption capacity and the thickness of fiber. 

____________________________________ 

Surface ultra-sculptural studies on the antenna, mouth parts and external genitalia of 

the Carpenter ant, Camponotus compressus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) 

Deepak D. Barsagade 

Department of Zoology, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur 440033 India; dr_ddbars@rediffmail.com 

The antenna in all polymorphic forms of carpenter ant, Camponotus compressus (Fabricius) 

(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is of a genniculate type. The antenna consists of a basal scape 

ball, pedicel and various numbers of flagellomeres. The SEM study shows the scape ball 

covered with three types of basiconical sensilla, SB- I, SB- II and SB- III in all castes of 

adults. The scape shaft contains sensilla trichoidea (ST) in all polymorphs. 

On the pedicel sensilla trichoidea are commonly distributed in female, male and worker antenna 

while sensilla basiconica has been noticed only in the female. In female and workers, flagellum 

content ten numbers of flagellomeres while eleven flagellomeres in the antenna of male. On the 

flagellum in female and male, sensilla trichoidea curvata, sensilla trichoidea, sensilla basiconica 

and sensilla chaetica while in worker sensilla trichoidea curvata and sensilla trichoidea are found. 

The mouth parts are adopted for grasping the prey and feeding. The labrum is the fringe, plate like 

consists of ST and SB in female and male but only ST in workers. The mandibles are large and 

powerful. The dorsal surface of mandibles consists of sensilla trichoidea, DT-I, DT -II and DT-III 

while on the ventral side VT-I, VT-II and ventral basiconica (VB) in female and workers, while 

VB absent in male. Each mandibles consists four incisors and three molar teeth in female and 

worker while two incisors teeth in male. The ST present on cardo, stipes and palps while papillae 

are present on anterior part of galea of maxillae in male, female and worker. The maxillary palps 

covered with ST. Three types of ST are present on the mentum and submentum of labium. The 

glossa is large tongue like structure in the worker, covered with SB-I, SB-II and acanthae. On the 

labial palp, ST-I, ST-II and sensilla trichoidea curvata (STC) are found on all segment while, 

microtrichia MT- I and MT- II are present on first segment in workers only. 

The male genitalia consist of a basal plate apically. A pair of outer gonocoxites, a pair of middle 

volsellae and inner penis wall is extended at the long appendicular structure. The gonocoxites 

consists of basal segments basimere and distal region telomere. The female external genetalia is 

greatly reduced in queen and worker ants. The IX terga and sterna covered with trichoid sensilla 

differentiated in to DT-I, DT-II on dorsal surface and VT-I, VT-II on ventral surface. The 

cuticular wall of anus consists of variable numbers cuticular setae radiating peripherally with a 

retractile sting. 

____________________________________ 

Morphological and molecular analysis of Vanhornia leileri Hedqvist (Proctotrupoidea, 

Vanhorniidae), a neglected European parasitoid of eucnemid beetles 

Hannes Baur 1 *, Dieter Doczkal 2 , & Manuel Schweizer 3 

1 Department of Invertebrates, Natural History Museum, Bernastrasse 15, 3005 Bern, Switzerland; 

hannes.baur@nmbe.ch 

2 Gaggenau, Germany 

3 Department of Vertebrates, Natural History Museum, Bernastrasse 15, 3005 Bern, Switzerland 

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The small, enigmatic family Vanhorniidae (Proctotrupoidea) comprises only three described 

species in two genera, Sinicivanhornia quizhouensis Jun-Hua & Ji-Ming, 1990 from China, V. 

eucnemidarum Crawford, 1909 from North America, and V. leileri Hedqvist, 1976 from in 

Southern Schweden. While V. eucnemidarum is relatively well studied morphologically and 

genetically, S. quizhouensis and V. leileri remained in obscurity because of the paucity of the 

material. Their descriptions were based on very few specimens and no new specimens were 

recorded since their description. The holotype female and single paratype male of V. leileri 

were reared from eucnemid beetles. The rediscovery of V. leileri in Central Switzerland 

(Trimbach, canton Olten) by the entomologist Georg Artmann in 2002 was thus rather 

surprising. Later, another specimen from the Savoy Alps in France (near Geneva) could be 

traced among miscellaneous material in the Hymenoptera collection of the Natural History 

Museum Geneva. Finally, D. Doczkal recently collected several specimens in Germany 

(Baden-Wurttemberg) using malaise traps. This new material was studied morphologically 

and compared with the holotype female of V. leileri as well as specimens of E. 

eucnemidarum. One specimen was also available for molecular analysis, whereby sequences 

of 16S, 28S and COI were generated. The morphological analysis revealed numerous further 

characters for separation of the two Vanhornia species. These characters were extensively 

documented with a digital imaging system and concern shape of head and body and sculpture 

of the integument. In the molecular analysis V. leileri is also clearly distinct from V. 

eucnemidarum though the two species came out as sister groups. However, their position 

remained ambiguous with respect to various genera of Proctotrupoidea (taxon sampling 

according to Dowton & Austin 2001), depending on the markers used. 

____________________________________ 

Western Palaearctic phylogeography of an inquiline gallwasp: 

Synergus umbraculus Olivier 1791 (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae, Synergini) 

Péter Bihari 1∗ , Botond Sipos 1 , George Melika 2 , Kálmán Somogyi 1 , Graham N. Stone 3 & Zsolt Pénzes 1,4 

1 Biological Research Center of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics, Szeged, Hungary; 

bihari.peter@gmail.com 

2 Pest Diagnostic Laboratory, Tanakajd, Hungary; melikageorge@gmail.com 

3 Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, The King’s 

Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, United Kingdom; Graham.stone@ed.ac.uk 

4 Department of Ecology, Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary; penzes@bio.u-szeged.hu 

The vast majority of gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) induce galls mainly on Quercus 

species (Cynipidae), however, around 10-15% of known species have lost their ability to 

induce galls (Synergini), and they develop as inquilines inside galls of other cynipids. In 

contrast to the gall inducers, we know little about inquilines, though they are abundant and 

supposed to play an important role in the community. 

We used DNA sequences to study the diversity of Synergus umbraculus, a widespread and 

polyphagous inquiline gallwasp in the Western Palearctic. Our aims were to investigate (i) 

genetic structure on two spatial scales, and (ii) effect of gall hosts on the distribution of 

lineages. 

Based on DNA sequences of two mitochondrial and one nuclear loci a remarkable degree of 

genetic differentiation was detected. Considering the analogous sequences of other Synergus 

species, Synergus umbraculus can not be regarded as one uniform species. At least four 

cryptic species were found. 

Using 239 cytochrome b sequences we identified eight haplogroups within the “typical 

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umbraculus clade”, which overlap in distribution. Significant phylogeographic pattern was 

revealed in the Western Palearctic and a close connection between the Carpathian basin, Italy 

and North-Western Europe. Multiple colonisation events from different sources result in the 

high diversity of the Central European region where an endemic haplogroup was also found. 

These results imply the significance of this region in phylogeographic context. 

Within the “typical umbraculus clade”, no pattern has been detected in variability related to 

the most common gall hosts, which suggests that Synergus umbraculus does not depend on a 

particular host association. 

____________________________________ 

East Asian pest of elms (Ulmus spp.) now invading Europe: the zigzag sawfly, 

Aproceros leucopoda (Hymenoptera, Argidae) 

Stephan M. Blank 1 *, Hideho Hara 2 , József Mikulás 3 , György Csóka 4 , Constantin Ciornei 5 , Raoul 

Constantineanu 6 , Irinel Constantineanu 6 , Ladislav Roller 7 , Ewald Altenhofer 8 , Tomasz Huflejt 9 & 

Gábor Vétek 10 

1 Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Eberswalder Str. 90, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany; 

sblank@senckenberg.de 

2 Forestry Research Institute, Hokkaido Research Organization, Bibai, Hokkaido, Japan 079-0198; harahideho@hro.or.jp 

3 Corvinus University of Budapest, Research Institute for Viticulture and Enology, Urihegy 5/a, 6000 

Kecskemét, Hungary; jozsef@mikulas.net 

4 Forest Research Institute, Department of Forest Protection, P.O.Box 2, 3232 Mátrafüred, Hungary; 

csokagy@erti.hu 

5 Forest Research and Management Institute, Stefan Cel Mare Street 28, Bacau, Romania; 

ciorneitinel@yahoo.com 

6 Biological Research Institute, Lascar Catargi 47, 700107 Iai, Romania; racon38@yahoo.com, 

irinaconstantineanu@yahoo.com 

7 Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06 Bratislava, Slovakia; 

uzaeroll@savba.sk 

8 Etzen 39, 3920 Groß Gerungs, Austria; ealtenhofer@everymail.net 

9 Polish Academy of Sciences, Museum and Institute of Zoology, Wilcza 64, 00-679 Warszawa, Poland; 

thuflejt@miiz.waw.pl 

10 Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Horticulture Science, Department of Entomology, Villanyi út 29- 

43, 1118 Budapest, Hungary; gabor.vetek@uni-corvinus.hu 

At least since 2003, an invasive sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda Takeuchi, 1939) originating 

from East Asia, has colonized elms in Austria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the 

Ukraine. In Europe, the larvae can completely defoliate native and non-native elm trees and 

may cause at least partial dieback. Field observations indicate that elms are infested 

independent of their age and site characteristics. Young larvae cause characteristically zigzagshaped 

feeding traces on leaves. The life cycle of A. leucopoda is described based on material 

reared in Hokkaido, Japan. Parthenogenetic reproduction, short life cycle of summer 

generations and the ability to produce four generations per year result in the production of 

numerous progeny. The evolution of a seasonal dimorphism in head morphology, a simple 

cocoon that is attached directly to the host plant and a short period spent in cocoon stage 

during summer, are putative apomorphies shared by Aproceros Takeuchi, 1939 and 

Aprosthema Konow, 1899. These traits reduce developmental costs and contribute to the 

proliferation of A. leucopoda. No specialized parasitoid is known effectively reducing 

outbreaks of this species. 

The initial occurrence of A. leucopoda in Europe cannot be reconstructed. Presumably, it was 

introduced passively with elm plants used in horticulture or forestry. Transport of cocoons 

20



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with other merchandise is also possible. Passive dispersal along with traded material might be 

a major way in which this species rapidly extended its distribution over great distances within 

Europe, but active dispersal is also to be expected, since the imagines are strong flyers. It is 

likely that this pest will spread into central and south-western Europe. Further monitoring of 

A. leucopoda is required to assess future range extensions in Europe, its exacerbating effect 

on Dutch elm disease and to find a suitable biocontrol agent. In a forthcoming publication 

(European Journal of Entomology, in press), details on identification of larvae and imagines, 

current distribution in Europe, development and damage caused have been summarized. 

____________________________________ 

Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu in Europe: current distribution, associated 

parasitoids and biological control (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

Giovanni Bosio 1 *, Ambra Quacchia 2 , Enzo Piazza 2 , Chiara Ferracini 2 , Gianfranco Brussino 1 , 

George Melika 3 & Alberto Alma 2 

1 Phytosanitary Service, Piedmont Region, Via Livorno 60, 10144 Turin, Italy;* 

giovanni.bosio@regione.piemonte.it 

2 DIVAPRA Entomology and Zoology applied to the Environment “Carlo Vidano”, Via L. da Vinci 44, 10095 

Grugliasco (TO), Italy 

3 Pest Diagnostic Laboratory, Plant Protection & Soil Conservation Directorate of County Vas, Ambrozy setany 

2, 9762 Tanakajd, Hungary; melikageorge@gmail.com 

The oriental chestnut gallwasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), 

native of China but now present in Japan, Korea, Nepal and USA, was found for the first time 

in Europe in Piedmont, north-western Italy in 2002 The pest was probably introduced in 

Europe some years before, through import of chestnut scions for genetic improvement of 

chestnut stands in Piedmont. Official surveys carried out in 2002 showed that infestation 

already involved hundreds of chestnut woods’ hectares, so attempts to eradicate were not 

feasible. In the following years, D. kuriphilus began to spread into many Italian regions, 

threatening chestnut fruit production. The pest is now reported in other neighbouring 

countries: France, Slovenia, Switzerland and Hungary. Chestnut trees are widely spread in 

Europe and especially in Italy. The fast diffusion of the chestnut gallwasp is probably due to 

the trade of young infested plants and to the flight of females, emerging from the galls during 

the summer. The huge development of an exotic pest’s population is favoured by the lack of 

its natural enemies in the new environment. Considering the presence of many other oak 

gallwasps in Italy, a shift of parasitoids from numerous species of oak cynipid galls to the new 

host on chestnut was expected. Since 2002 about 25 chalcidoid parasitoid species have been 

reared from D. kuriphilus galls which belong to 6 Chalcidoidea families: Eurytomidae, 

Pteromalidae, Torymidae, Eulophidae, Ormyridae, Eupelmidae. Among these species, 

Eupelmidae and Torymidae are playing the major role. Many of them were already reported 

as D. kuriphilus parasitoids from other countries. Parasitoid studies evaluated in different 

regions of Italy during 2002-2009 showed a low impact of this parasitoid complex onto the 

population dynamics of the chestnut gallwasp, so they can’t probably naturally control the 

pest. On the basis of this consideration and the lack of any other effective techniques 

[pesticide treatments produced nearly no positive effect], following the successful Japanese 

experience, the torymid ectoparasitoid, Torymus sinensis Kamijo, was introduced into 

Piedmont to control the pest. Chestnut galls, potentially parasitized by T. sinensis, were sent 

by Dr. S. Moriya (National Agricultural Research Center, Tsukuba, Japan) to the Entomology 

Department of the Agriculture Faculty of University of Turin during 2002–2008. The first T. 

sinensis releases in open field were made in three localities of Cuneo province in 2005. 

21



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Surveys in the following years have revealed that the exotic parasitoid is well established in 

the new environment and is under active reproduction. 

____________________________________ 

The importance of morphology in the age of molecular hymenopteran phylogenetics 

Seán G. Brady 

Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 

USA; bradys@si.edu 

Molecular data are eclipsing morphology as the primary source of phylogenetic characters for 

many hymenopteran groups. Molecular data also increasingly impact other areas of 

systematics such as species discovery and identification. In general, the study of morphology 

is becoming increasingly marginalized in the genomics era. I discuss case studies from own 

work on ants and bees that illustrate the continued importance of morphological data for 

molecular phylogenetics. These examples include incorporating fossils into phylogeny, 

inferring divergence dates, studying rare taxa, establishing independent sources of 

phylogenetic data, corroborating novel molecular clades, and creating diagnostic 

morphological keys based on molecular phylogeny. This is far from an exhaustive list of how 

morphology can impact molecular phylogenetics. As hymenopteran systematists embrace the 

vast potential offered by genetic and genomic data, we also have much to gain in continuing 

to forge new advances in morphological systems. The more that we as a community explicitly 

demonstrate to our colleagues the positive interplay between morphology and molecules, the 

better this perspective can be realized. 

____________________________________ 

Phylogeny and re-classification of the genera of the ctenopelmatine tribe, Perilissini 

(Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) 

Gavin R. Broad 1 * & Robert A. Wharton 2 

1 Department of Entomology, the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; 

g.broad@nhm.ac.uk 

2 Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA; 

rawbaw2@neo.tamu.edu 

The ichneumonid subfamily Ctenopelmatinae is a heterogeneous assemblage of genera that 

are endoparasitoids of sawfly larvae and are more or less unsatisfactorily classified in up to 

nine tribes. Some of these tribes are very poorly defined, including the Perilissini. As part of 

a larger, PEET-funded initiative on the phylogeny and classification of Ctenopelmatinae, we 

have been concentrating on scoring the genera of Perilissini for a wide spectrum of 

morphological characters. We aim to (1) provide a re-definition of the Perilissini based on 

apomorphic characters; (2) re-classify those genera erroneously placed in Perilissini (e.g. 

Perilimicron); (3) produce a (hopefully relatively robust) phylogeny of the genera of 

Perilissini; (4) define the genera of Perilissini; and (5) re-classify the various species groups 

of the species-rich and vague genera, Lathrolestes and Perilissus. We present preliminary 

phylogenetic trees and an exploration of various character systems. Some novel characters 

are introduced (such as the shape of the upper division of the metapleurum) that have proved 

very useful in defining large groups of genera. 

____________________________________ 

22



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Re-evaluation of phylogeny and higher classification of Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) 

Denis J. Brothers 1 * & Arkady S. Lelej 2 

1 School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; 

brothers@ukzn.ac.za 

2 Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch, Vladivostok, Russia; 

lelej@biosoil.ru 

Brothers (1975) produced the first phylogenetic analysis and higher classification of 

Mutillidae (velvet ants) on a world-wide basis, using 43 characters and groundplans for the 

taxa. Seven subfamilies (Myrmosinae, Pseudophotopsidinae, Ticoplinae, Rhopalomutillinae, 

Sphaeropthalminae, Myrmillinae and Mutillinae) and several tribes and subtribes were 

proposed. In 1997 Lelej & Nemkov published an analysis (using 89 characters, many different 

from those previously used at this level, and similar methods) and proposed ten subfamilies 

(Myrmosinae, Kudakrumiinae, Pseudophotopsidinae, Ticoplinae, Rhopalomutillinae, 

Ephutinae, Dasylabrinae, Sphaeropthalminae, Myrmillinae and Mutillinae), reflecting several 

differences in inferred relationships. Slight expansion and reanalysis by Brothers in 1999, 

taking Lelej & Nemkov’s results into account, produced essentially the same results as he had 

obtained in 1975, however. 

In order to clarify the reasons for the above differences, and in an attempt to derive an 

improved classification, Brothers invited Lelej to collaborate on a more extensive analysis. 

Methods: More than 50 genera (rather than assumed higher taxa), including varied species for 

each where possible, were individually scored for all morphological characters previously 

considered in such analyses as well as others used at the genus level, a total of about 190 

characters. Four outgroup genera representing those families previously found to be most 

closely related to Mutillidae were similarly scored. Parsimony analyses were performed, using 

various options involving additivity of character states and implied weighting of characters. 

Neither Brothers’s nor Lelej’s previously proposed phylogenies were fully supported. Several 

“taxa” were found probably to be paraphyletic. Different analytic assumptions produced 

considerable differences in branching patterns. 

Recognition of a series of higher taxa somewhat intermediate between the earlier schemes 

proposed by Brothers and Lelej may be justified. However, the inclusion of several characters 

polymorphic within genera, and the fact that such variation in state expression appears to 

differ in extent in different parts of the trees found, has undoubtedly confounded the situation; 

such factors, and the possibility of using species rather than genera as terminals, need further 

exploration before firm conclusions can be reached. 

____________________________________ 

Divergence estimates and new insights into the early evolution of cynipoid wasps 

(Hymenoptera) 

Matthew L. Buffington 1 * & Seán G. Brady 2 

1 Systematic Entomology Laboratory, ARS-USDA, c/o National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian 

Institution, Washington, DC, USA; matt.buffington@ars.usda.gov 

2 Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012, MRC 188, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA; bradys@si.edu 

The Cynipoidea, generally known as the gall wasps, possess a broad range of biological 

attributes, ranging from primary and hyper parasitization, to gall induction and inquillinism. 

We explore the early phylogenetic branching patterns of the cynipoids, and in the process, 

23



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estimate non clock-like divergence times for all the major lineages. Recent work on fossil 

cynipoids has provided calibration points for our analyses. Our results estimate the median 

age of the branch leading to the root of the Cynipoidea to be 130 million years old, the branch 

leading to the true gall wasps (Cynipidae) to be 54 million years old, and the branch leading 

to the entomophagous Figitidae to be 105 million years. Given these dates, and the estimated 

divergence estimates for the hosts of cynipoid wasps (both plants and other insects), we build 

on previous hypotheses that the gall wasps are a derived, phytophagous lineage nested within 

the largely parasitic Cynipoidea, and that major lineages of Figitidae chronologically 

‘tracked’ the divergence times of their hosts. 

____________________________________ 

Phylogeny of the Aculeata: Results of the Hymatol Taxonomic Working Group 

James M. Carpenter 1 *, Donat Agosti 1 , Celso O. Azevedo 2 , Craig M. Brabant 3 , Denis J. Brothers 4 , 

Jacques Dubois 1 , Lynn S. Kimsey 5 , Volker Lohrmann 6 , Michael Ohl 6 , Laurence Packer 7 & Susanne 

Schulmeister 1 

1 American Museum of Natural History, NYC, USA; carpente@amnh.org 

2 Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Mexico 

3 University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA 

4 University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa 

5 University of California, USA 

6 Museum für Naturkunde an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany 

7 York University; UK 

The first phylogenetic analysis based on combined morphological and molecular data for all 

families of Aculeata is presented. The morphological characters are modified from those used 

in previous studies by the authors, and are scored for more than 80 species terminals; they 

consist of more than 200 variables. The molecular data are from four genes (16S, 18S, 28S 

and COI), and comprise more than 4000 sites. Cladistic analysis using ichneumonoid 

outgroups resolves Chrysidoidea as monophyletic, and the sister-group of Apoidea and 

Vespoidea. Apoidea is monophyletic, but Vespoidea is not supported. Most families with 

multiple representatives are supported as monophyletic. 

____________________________________ 

Beyond the barcode to the tree: Ichneumonoid phylogeny and the importance of taxon 

sampling density and strategy 

Chesters, D. 1,2 , Vogler, A.P. 1,2 , Smith, M.A. 3 , Janzen, D. 4 , Hallwachs, W. 4 , Triana Fernández, J. 3,5 , 

Laurenne, N.M. 6 , Zaldivar-Riverón, A. 7 , Shaw, M.R. 8 , Broad, G.R. 2 , Klopfstein, S. 9 , Shaw, S.R. 10 , 

Hrcek, J. 11 , Hebert, P.D.N. 3 , Miller, S. 12 , Rodriguez, J. 13 , Whitfield. J. 14 , Sharkey, M.J. 15 , Sharanowski, 

B.J. 16 , Gauld, I.D. [deceased] 2 & Donald L.J. Quicke 1,2 * 

1 Division of Biology, Imperial College London, UK; d.quicke@imperial.ac.uk 

2 The Natural History Museum; Cromwell Rd.; London SW7 5DB; UK 

3 Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1 Canada 

4 Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA 

5 Canadian National Collection of Insects 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6, Canada 

6 Museum of Natural History, Entomology Division, PO Box 17, 00014-University of Helsinki, Finland 

7 Colección Nacional de Insectos, Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, UNAM, A.P. 70-153, C.P. 

04510, México 

8 Honorary Research Associate, National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF, UK 

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9 Natural History Museum, Department of Invertebrates, Bernastrasse 15, CH-3005 Bern, Switzerland, and 

Zoologial Institute, Division of Community Ecology, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern, 

Switzerland 

10 University of Wyoming Insect Museum, Department of Renewable Resources, University of Wyoming, 

Laramie, WY, 82071-3354, USA 

11 Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, and Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre ASCR, 

Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic 

12 Smithsonian Institution PO Box 37012, MRC 105 Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA 

13 National Center for Ecological, Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), University of California, Santa Barbara, 

735 State St., Suite 300 Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA 

14 Department of Entomology, 320 Morrill Hall, University of Illinois, 505 S. Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801, 

USA 

15 Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, USA 

16 North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, Campus Box 7613, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. 

E-mails: d.chesters06@imperial.ac.uk; apv@nhm.ac.uk; salex@uoguelph.ca; djanzen@sas.upenn.edu; 

whallwac@sas.upenn.edu; jftriana@uoguelph.ca; nina.laurenne@helsinki.fi; azaldivar@ibiologia.unam.mx; 

markshaw@xenarcha.com; g.broad@nhm.ac.uk; klopfstein@nmbe.ch; Braconid@uwyo.edu; 

janhrcek@gmail.com; phebert@uoguelph.ca; millers@si.edu; rodriguez@nceas.ucsb.edu; 

jwhitfie@life.uiuc.edu; msharkey@uky.edu; barb.sharanowski@gmail.com 

The enormous sequence database of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) being assembled 

from various DNA barcoding projects as well as from independent phylogenetic studies 

provides an almost unprecedented amount of data for molecular systematics in addition to its 

original species delimitation role. Here we explore the phylogenetic trees that can be 

reconstructed from the available species-level sequence data in the enormously diverse, 

cosmopolitan parasitoid wasp superfamily Ichneumonoidea. Out of approximately 78 

currently recognised subfamilies and 58,000 described species, data for the barcoding region 

of CO1 were assembled for over 3500 putative species-level terminals (many undescribed), 

representing all but 3 of the recognised subfamilies. Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed 

from the whole data and from variously rarefied subsets, using both parsimony and rapid 

likelihood techniques. The probable phylogenetic accuracy of each analysis was assessed 

using the taxonomic retention index (tRI) and a new Simpson Diversity Index-based metric 

(tSD) of the morphologically recognised families, subfamilies and genera on the resulting 

trees. We implemented concurrent but independent sampling and scoring of the 680 genera 

and 74 subfamilies within the Ichneumonoidea with the aim of giving accuracy scores in the 

context of a variable, large scale phylogenetic treespace. We find that a subset of taxa show 

consistent monophyly, regardless of the number or identity of sequences used in the 

resampled data set. However, for the majority of taxonomic groups, maximisation of the 

measures of phylogenetic accuracy is dependent upon the numbers of terminals sampled, with 

increased sampling of a given taxon leading to a reduction in polyphyly and paraphyly both of 

the taxon itself, and the local phylogenetic environment (deeper taxonomic nodes). Further, 

we find improvements to accuracy are enhanced when sampling shifts from a single 

biogeographic zone to multiple zones. Finally, we find accuracy associating with particular 

tree characteristics, especially maximum branch length. The results suggest minimum 

parameters for taxonomic and geographic coverage if COI is to be used as a primary means of 

phylogenetic assessment and indicate the relationship between higher taxonomic group 

association and the interaction between taxonomic coverage and rates of COI evolution. 

____________________________________ 

25



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Phylogeny and historical biogeography of Sycophagine non-pollinating fig wasps 

(Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) 

Astrid Cruaud 1* , Roula Jabbour-Zahab 1 , Gwenaëlle Genson 1 , Arnaud Couloux 2 , Peng Yan-Qiong 3 , 

Yang Da Rong 3 , Rosichon Ubaidillah 4 , Rodrigo Augusto Santinelo Pereira 5 , Finn Kjellberg 6 , Simon 

van Noort 7 , Carole Kerdelhué 8 & Jean-Yves Rasplus 1 

1 INRA-UMR Centre de Biologie et de Gestion des Populations, CBGP, (INRA/IRD/CIRAD/Montpellier 

SupAgro), Campus international de Baillarguet, CS 30016, 34988 Montferrier-sur Lez, France; 

cruaud@supagro.inra.fr 

2 Génoscope, Centre National de Séquençage, 2, rue Gaston Crémieux, F-91057 Evry, France 

3 Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of 

Sciences, 88 Xuefu Road, 650223 Kunming, Yunnan, China 

4 Entomology Laboratory, Zoology Division (Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense). Center Research for Biology, 

LIPI, Gedung Widyasatwaloka Jl. Raya Jakarta-Bogor, Km 46, Cobinong 16911, Bogor, Indonesia 

5 Depto de Biologia/FFCLRP-USP, Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, 14040-901 - Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil 

6 CNRS - UMR Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, CEFE, 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier 

Cedex 5, France 

7 Natural History Division, South African Museum, Iziko Museums of Cape Town, PO Box 61, Cape Town 

8000, South Africa and Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701 

South Africa 

8 INRA, UMR BioGeCo. 69 Route d’Arcachon F-33612 Cestas Cedex, France 

Figs (Ficus, Moraceae) are exploited by rich communities of often host-specific 

phytophagous and parasitoid wasps. Among them, non-pollinating Sycophaginae 

(Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) may share a common history with Ficus and their mutualistic 

pollinators (Agaonidae). Therefore they could be used as an additional tool to unravel the 

biogeographical complexities of the fig system. We investigate here, for the first time, the 

phylogeny and the biogeographical history of Sycophaginae at a world level and compare the 

timing of radiation and dispersion of major clades with available data on Ficus and fig 

pollinators. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses were conducted on 4267 bp of 

mitochondrial and nuclear DNA to produce a phylogeny of all genera of Sycophaginae. Two 

relaxed clock methods with or without rate autocorrelation were used for date estimation. 

Analyses of ancestral area were also conducted to investigate the geographical origin of 

Sycophaginae. 

The phylogeny is well resolved and supported. Our data suggest a post-Gondwanian age of 

Sycophaginae (50-40 Ma) and two independent out-of-Australia dispersal events to 

Continental Asia. Given paleoclimatic and paleogeographic records, the following scenario 

appears the most likely. The ancestor of Idarnes+Apocryptophagus migrated to Greater India 

through the Ninetyeast Ridge (40-30 Ma). The ancestor of Anidarnes+Conidarnes dispersed 

later via Sundaland (25-20 Ma). Idarnes and Anidarnes subsequently reached the New World 

via the North Atlantic Land Bridges during the Late Oligocene Warming Event. 

Apocryptophagus reached Africa 20 Ma ago via the Arabic corridors and returned to 

Australasia following the expansion of Sundaland tropical forests (20-10 Ma). We recorded a 

good coincidence of timing between dispersal events and continental connections. 

Furthermore the timing of radiation and dispersion of Sycophaginae is concomitant with the 

timings estimated for Ficus, pollinators and fig dispersers. Therefore, our study highlights the 

power of phylogenetic multiple dating of interacting groups to reconstruct the historical 

biogeography of these associations. 

Interestingly Sycophaga renders Apocryptophagus paraphyletic. Both Sycophaga and 

Apocryptophagus possess similar males with a unique suite of synapomorphies: the long 

peritremata of the abdominal spiracles, the flat scape of the antenna and the rectangular head. 

26



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Males of Platyneura and Sycophaga cannot be separated on tangible morphological 

characters. However females of Sycophaga are strongly differentiated and exhibit several 

morphological adaptations to crawl into the ostiole of the figs (flattened and elongated head, 

short fore tibiae, spurs on the hind tibia, absence of any sculpture on the mesosoma) that make 

them easy to identify on morphology. Our results show that for Sycophagine fig wasps 1) the 

ability to enter the fig through the ostiole took about 30Ma and 2) in the next 15 Ma the 

female wasps evolved several morphologigal adaptations to crawl through the bracts so that 

females of Sycophaga and Apocryptophagus seem to belong to different genera. 

____________________________________ 

Ontogenetic origin of mermithogenic Myrmica phenotypes (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) 

Sándor Cssz 1* & Gábor Majoros 2 

1 Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary; csosz@zoo.zoo.nhmus.hu 

2 Department of Parasitology and Zoology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Szent István University, Budapest, 

Hungary; majoros.gabor@aotk.szie.hu 

Entomopathogen parasites typically induce alternative "parasitogenic" phenotypes in ants and 

other insects. However, the basis of generated developmental changes is poorly understood. 

Parasitic mermithid nematodes also cause the formation of three discrete and aberrant 

morphologies within Myrmica ants. These have been called "worker-like" ("mermithergate"), 

"intermorphic" ("gynaecoid mermithergate") and "gyne-like" ("mermithogyne") and their 

formation has been attributed to infection of worker- and queen-presumptive larvae, 

respectively. In order to better understand the developmental mechanisms that lead to the 

formation of these alternative parasitogenic phenotypes we observed allometric patterns of 

parasitogenic Myrmica gallienii phenotypes in comparison with uninfected workers and gynes 

from the same nests. It was revealed that the three discrete morphologies of parasitogenic 

female phenotypes did not differ significantly from each other in their scaling indicating that 

these were trapped in the same developmental pathway. Infected individuals scaled according 

to basically gyne-like allometry, however significantly differed from workers in their scaling. 

Based on the observed scaling patterns we herein raise an alternative explanation according to 

which both "mermithergate", "gynaecoid mermithergate" and "mermithogyne" Myrmica 

phenotypes develop from the same type of larvae, namely from the queen-presumptive larvae 

and their formation, therefore, is rendered as a diverging process. According to the 

mechanism we propose effect of nematodes may turn out to be the determining factor in the 

formation of alternative parasitogenic morphologies. 

____________________________________ 

Looking inside the head capsule of Chalcididae 

provides informative characters to infer their phylogeny 

Gérard Delvare 

Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement, (Cirad TA A 55/L), 

UMR CBGP, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5 France; gerard.delvare@cirad.fr 

Chalcididae are a well characterized family of chalcidoid wasps. Nevertheless, using 

molecular data, the family is never retrieved monophyletic. On the other hand, looking to the 

back of the head provided informative characters for the inference of their phylogeny in 

Eurytominae. In Chalcididae this region – postocciput, postgena and hypostoma – is quite 

variable and the homologies across the different recognized subfamilies or tribes were 

difficult to assess. Therefore the examination of the internal structures – tentorial arms, 

27



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postoccipital apodemes – postgenal bridge – was considered the only way to solve the 

question. This examination, across the family and some extra groups (Torymidae, 

Leucospidae, Pteromalidae Cleonyminae and Pteromalinae, Eurytomidae Heimbrinae, 

Buresiinae and Eurytominae), provided 24 characters which, combined with 138 other ones, 

allowed us to infer the phylogeny of the family, retrieved monophyletic with a high support. 

The Heimbrinae are the sister group of the Chalcididae. Within the family, the Cratocentrini, 

which otherwise exhibit very special derived states – this is the only lineage having a true 

postgenal bridge – branch on a basal node. The Epitraninae and Dirhininae are sister groups 

while Smicromorpha shares a strong synapomorphy with the Haltichellinae. 

____________________________________ 

Revision of the subfamily Megaspilinae (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronoidea) 

Andrew Ernst*, István Mikó, Barbara J. Sharanowski & Andrew R. Deans 

Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Campus box 7613, Raleigh, NC 27609-7613, 

USA; ernsthausen@gmail.com; istvan.miko@gmail.com; Barb.Sharanowski@gmail.com; 

andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

Megaspilinae is a diverse group, yet the limits of the seven genera are poorly known. They are 

parasitoids and hyperparasitoids of at least five orders of insects. Generic concepts have never 

been tested by any phylogenetic analysis. To test these generic concepts, we used both 

morphological and molecular characters. Our results hypothesize that some genera are 

monophyletic and some are in need of redefinition (Dendrocerus and Conostigmus). In 

examining morphology of Trassedia, we discovered a suite of morphological characters, 

including the presence of the waterstone evaporatorium, that suggest the genus Trassedia 

should be transferred from Megaspilidae to Ceraphronidae. All sources of data are managed 

using MX, an online database for systematists. Such comprehensive management of data is a 

novel and useful method for revisionary work such as this. 

____________________________________ 

Challenges, opportunities and future strategies in the study of Microgastrinae 

(Braconidae) 

Jose L. Fernández-Triana 1* & James B. Whitfield 2 

1 Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Canada; jftriana@uoguelph.ca 

2 Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, United States; jwhitfie@life.illinois.edu 

Microgastrine wasps are the single most important group of Lepidoptera parasitoids, with 

significant importance in biological control programs worldwide. Here we highlight present 

and future developments in the study of the subfamily, discussing major challenges and 

opportunities. We estimate the actual diversity of Microgastrinae (currently around 2,000 

described species) to be between 15-30,000 species, based on two extrapolation methods and 

supplemented by the study of collections from all major biogeographical regions and 

barcoding data from over 15,000 specimens from about 60 countries. The problems of 

understanding such an extraordinary diversity are further complicated by the rapid 

evolutionary radiation of the group, the presence of numerous cryptic and morphologically 

similar species, the lack of comprehensive taxonomic reviews for the largest genera, and 

scarce and/or inaccurate information on hosts. Among the factors that might facilitate the 

study of the group are the availability of comprehensive databases, types concentrated in 

relatively few institutions, a rather organized taxonomy at supra-specific level (with some 

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unresolved controversies), thousands of fresh specimens collected or reared, new techniques 

to unravel host records, DNA barcoding efforts, numerous molecular- and morphology-based 

phylogenetic studies, and (in a few recent efforts) the combination of several of the 

abovementioned approaches. We discuss strategies to take advantage of these opportunities in 

future research on Microgastrinae on a worldwide basis. 

____________________________________ 

"The Kieffer syndrome" - endogenous taxonomic impediments in poorly known groups, 

as examplified by the taxonomic history of Eucoilinae (Cynipoidea: Figitidae) 

Mattias Forshage 

Department of Entomology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 5007, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden; 

generelle.morphologie@gmail.com 

It is well known that so-called taxonomic impediments are manifold. Infrastructural 

limitations and lack of funding in science are important external factors. In many poorly 

known groups, the unaccounted diversity in itself as well as technical difficulties in studying 

the animals may be considered an endogenous factor. 

An impediment sometimes presented by taxonomy itself is the work of previous careless 

taxonomists, which may leave groups in states far worse than ignorance. Enthusiasm over 

apriori characters and superficial variation, and lack of concern for type studies, phylogenetic 

questions and nomenclatural principles, can create entirely artificial classifications that take 

generations to tidy up. A roaring lack of knowledge can be concealed in a rigid pragmatic 

system and a wealth of names. 

I will give a brief history of the taxonomic history of the Eucoilinae, one of those groups 

where the fluctuation between absence of taxonomic research and very ambitious but mostly 

misleading taxonomic work highlights some of the basic questions of taxonomy, and present 

some recent efforts at taking up this challenge. We seem now to have reached up to 88% 

adequacy of available names in the group, compared to the all-time low of 14% after Jean- 

Jacques Kieffer's total revision. I will also discuss criteria for considering groups "poorly 

known". 

____________________________________ 

When morphology is not enough: are generalist chalcid parasitoids aggregates of cryptic 

sibling species? 

Pablo Fuentes-Utrilla 1 *, James A. Nicholls 1 , Péter Bihari 2 , Julja Ernst 1 , Camille Marsan 1 & 

Graham N. Stone 1 

1 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King’s Buildings, West 

Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK; p.fuentes@ed.ac.uk, james.nicholls@ed.ac.uk, graham.stone@ed.ac.uk 

2 Biological Research Centre of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics, Temesvári krt 62, 

Szeged 6723, Hungary 

Species within many insect groups are known to be hard to identify based solely on 

morphological characters, especially within speciose groups such as chalcid wasps. However, 

DNA sequences provide an alternative suite of characters to assist in species identification. This 

so-called DNA barcoding can be particularly useful for discovering cryptic species or ecotypes 

within generalist natural enemies, whereby molecular data reveal that a single generalist morphospecies 

actually consists of multiple more specialised genetic species – a pattern consistent with 

theory describing the evolution of stable foodweb interactions. Such cryptic diversity needs to 

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be explored in order for any study of ecological interactions to be placed into the correct context. 

Within the community of wasps associated with cynipid oak galls, many chalcid parasitoid 

natural enemies have very broad host ranges and in some cases genetic data have revealed the 

presence of previously unknown cryptic species. Here we investigate whether two chalcid 

parasitoids of oak galls, Ormyrus pomaceus (Ormyridae) and Eupelmus urozonus (Eupelmidae), 

contain cryptic genetic lineages. Both these species have particularly broad host ranges; O. 

pomaceus is known to attack at least 95 species of cynipid gall inducer, while E. urozonus is 

exceptionally polyphagous, attacking both at least 87 oak gall species and a wide range of noncynipid 

hosts. We used a multi-locus DNA barcoding approach, sequencing both the standard 

gene used for barcoding, the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI), plus 

introns from multiple nuclear loci. Although levels of sequence variation are typically lower in 

nuclear genes, they are an essential tool when searching for cryptic species as nuclear 

corroboration for mitochondrial lineages provides strong evidence for the reproductive isolation 

of these lineages, and hence the delimitation of cryptic species. Bayesian methods were used to 

construct phylogenies for the two morpho-species, and host use (both the insect attacked by the 

parasitoid and the host plant of the attacked insect) was then mapped onto the phylogenies. Both 

morpho-species were found to contain multiple cryptic lineages supported by both the nuclear 

and mitochondrial genomes. Cryptic species within both species complexes did not appear to be 

ecological specialists either at the level of host taxon or at the lower trophic level of host plant, at 

least within the sampling obtained from cynipid oak galls. One lineage with the E. urozonus 

complex was sampled almost exclusively from leaf-mining caterpillars on oak trees, although 

one individual from this lineage was also sampled from an oak cynipid gall, indicating that the 

communities of natural enemies attacking leaf-mining caterpillars and cynipid galls occasionally 

exchange members. The presence of cryptic generalist parasitoids within the oak gall 

community highlights the need for further ecological study of these cryptic lineages to explain 

how multiple ecologically similar species co-exist within the same community and to describe 

impacts on trophic interactions mediated by increased numbers of apparently generalist natural 

enemies. 

____________________________________ 

Ichneumonidae collected from the Suez Canal and North Sinai regions, Egypt 

(Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) 

Neveen Samy Gadallah 1* , Rowaida Saleh Ahmad 2 , Ahmed El-Heneidy 3 & 

Samar Mohammed Mahmoud 3 

1 Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt; n_gadallah@yahoo.com 

2 Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez canal University, Ismailia, Egypt; rowaida_@msn.com 

3 Department of Biological Control, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, 

Egypt; aheneidy@link.net 

The present study is carried out to investigate and review the species of the family 

Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea) attacking different pests of cultivated plants 

in Suez Canal (especially Ismailia) and N. Sinai (especially El- Arish) regions. Collection was 

done using the Japanese sweeping net and Malaise trap during the period 2007-2009. 

A total of 31 ichneumonid species belonging to 23 genera and 10 subfamilies: Anomaloninae 

(2 genera, 3 species), Banchinae (1sp.), Campopleginae (7 genera, 10 species), Cryptinae (3 

genera, 4 species), Diplazontinae (2 genera, 2 species), Ichneumoninae (2genera, 2 species), 

Metopiinae (1species), Ophioninae (2 genera, 3 species), Pimplinae (2 genera, 3 species) and 

Tryphoninae (1 genus, 2 species). Of these seven species are new records to the fauna of 

Egypt. 

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The collecting data of the ichneumonid species, their hosts as well as their previous records in 

Egypt is given. Almost all the listed species are not previously recorded from the two regions 

under study except for: Venturia canescens (Gravenhorst) and Enicospilus ramidulus (Linn.) 

were previously recorded from W. Rabdet (N.Sinai) and Ophion obscuratus Fab., previously 

recorded from Ismailia (Suez Canal Region) and El-Zaraniq (N.Sinai). 

____________________________________ 

Calosota Curtis (Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae) — pulling the proverbial thread of 

knowledge 

Gary A.P. Gibson 

Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes (CNC), Agriculture & Agri-food Canada, 

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Gary.Gibson@agr.gov.ca 

Calosota Curtis (Chalcidoidea: Eupelmidae) is a comparatively small genus of parasitoid 

wasps that primarily attack woodboring beetles. Eight species have been included in the genus 

in the New World, including 3 from South America and 5 from North America, whereas 13 

valid species are recognized in Europe. In 2009 specimens were received for identification 

that were reared from the goldspotted oak borer, Agrilus coxalis Waterhouse (Coleoptera: 

Buprestidae), a pest of oaks in California. Initial study suggested that these specimens 

represented a new species and the foolish promise to describe it because of its potential for 

biocontrol of the pest. Additional study to adequately characterize the new species quickly led 

to the discovery of other undescribed North American species in the CNC and a full revision 

of the genus for the region. This resulted in the discovery that some of the North American 

species extend further south into Central America and West Indies and enlarging the revision 

to include these regions. Study to ensure correct nomenclature also suggested that three of the 

five described North American species occur also in Europe under other names, which led to 

a “review” of the European species. The results of what started out as a single species 

description but ended up in a revision of the West Indies and North and Central American 

species, including the description of 7 new species, 7 new synonyms for North American and 

European names, the resurrection of 2 European species names, observations on 9 other 

European names, and the transfer of 2 South American species to other genera will be 

summarized. 

____________________________________ 

Recent advances in the chromosomal studies of the superfamilies 

Cynipoidea and Chalcidoidea 

Vladimir E. Gokhman 

Botanical Garden, Moscow State University, Moscow 119991 Russia; gokhman@bg.msu.ru 

Chromosomes of about 200 species of parasitic wasps that belong to 16 families of the 

Chalcidoidea and Cynipoidea have been studied up to now. Although overall karyotypic 

features of those groups are summarized in my recently published monograph, Karyotypes of 

Parasitic Hymenoptera, the described pattern must be updated with a number of new results. 

Specifically, these results confirm that the chromosome set containing eleven subtelocentrics 

or acrocentrics is likely to be ancestral for the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Moreover, modern 

karyotypic information blurs an apparent border between the so-called "high-numbered" and 

"low-numbered" families of the Chalcidoidea having n = 8-12 and 3-7 respectively. 

Mymaridae, the most basal chalcid family, is the only taxon of its rank that has fully retained 

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a relatively high chromosome number, n = 9. In other groups of the superfamily Chalcidoidea 

that were supposed to be entirely high-numbered, i.e. Encyrtidae (n = 8-12) and Eurytomidae 

(n = 9-10), species with lower chromosome numbers have been recently detected. For 

example, n = 5, 6, and 7 were found in Eurytoma compressa (Fabricius), Eu. serratulae 

(Fabricius), and Eu. robusta Mayr respectively. These species are likely to form a wellsupported 

clade within their genus. Another originally high-numbered chalcid family, 

Aphelinidae, also harbours groups with lower chromosome numbers, i.e. all Aphelininae and 

a few species of Encarsia. Species with higher n values (7 to 10) are now detected in the 

family Eupelmidae that generally has lower chromosome numbers (n = 5-6). In addition, n = 

10 has been recently found in two species of the genus Podagrion, whereas n = 4-6 were 

detected in other Torymidae. Among the "low-numbered" families, n = 6 has been found in 

the first studied species of the family Agaonidae, Blastophaga psenes (Linnaeus). The 

karyotype containing five large metacentrics and a small subtelocentric or acrocentric is 

considered the ground plan feature of the common lineage that includes Torymidae, 

Ormyridae, and Agaonidae. The same karyotype structure is also found in Euderomphale 

chelidonii Erdös that belongs to Euderomphalini, the most basal tribe of the subfamily 

Entedoninae (Eulophidae). In the superfamily Cynipoidea that generally contains highnumbered 

species (n = 9-11), low chromosome numbers were detected in the genera Andricus 

(Cynipidae, n = 5-6) and Leptopilina (Figitidae, n = 5). Chromosomal characters can be used 

in species-level taxonomy of certain genera of parasitic wasps that belong to the Chalcidoidea 

and Cynipoidea. For example, Metaphycus flavus (Howard) and M. luteolus (Timberlake) 

(Encyrtidae) both have n = 10, whereas M. angustifrons Compere has n = 9, and M. stanleyi 

Compere has n = 5. Analogously, n = 10, 9, and 5 were found in Leptopilina heterotoma 

(Thomson), L. boulardi Barbotin, Carton et Keiner-Pillault, and L. clavipes (Hartig) 

respectively. 

____________________________________ 

Evolution of solitary and gregarious development in parasitoids: what we can learn 

from Entedon wasps (Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae) 

Alex Gumovsky 

Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, 15 Bogdan Khmelnitsky St., 01601 Kiev-30, Ukraine; 

gumovsky@izan.kiev.ua, entedon@gmail.com 

Nominal difference between solitary and gregarious parasitoids concerns number of siblings 

developing in the same host. However, the ability to be gregarious may concern degree of 

tolerance between sibling larvae, rather than simply number of the eggs laid. Wasps of the 

genus Entedon are larval or egg-larval, gregarious or solitary endoparasitoids of Coleoptera 

(mostly weevils and bean beetles). Evolution of life history traits in this genus was 

reconstructed by phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal (D2 of 28S) and mitochondrial 

(COI and Cyt B) gene regions. The analysis suggests that gregarious parasitism originated 

more than once in larval and egg-larval parasitoids. Also, the egg-larval parasitism is rather 

common (or even predominant) parasitism in the genus. The preimaginal development also 

differs in solitary and gregarious parasitoids. The solitary parasitoids physically eliminate 

other rival larvae during their first instar, which is armed with sharp mandibles. In egg-larval 

gregarious parasitoids the active “fighting” first instar is ommited: it is embryonized and the 

early development of the larva takes place within an extraembryonic cellular membrane. The 

larva, which corresponds to the second instar of solitary Entedon species, is formed directly 

from the proliferating cells inside this extraembryonic membrane. This embryonization of 

“fighters“ may be an approach to avoid killing of siblings by aggressive first instars. 

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However, larval gregarious parasitoids of Entedon have typical “fighter” first instars, which 

are just somewhat less mobile and molt quicker to the second instar, than in solitary 

parasitoids. So, the larval tolerance may be achieved in two ways: by losing of aggressive 

instars (egg-larval gregarious species of Entedon) or by lower mobility and faster 

development of these instars (larval gregarious species of Entedon). 

____________________________________ 

Wild Bee Diversity of Sweet Cherry Orchards in Sultandaı Reservoir (Turkey) 

Yasemin Güler 1* , A. Murat Aytekin 2 & Fatih Dikmen 2 

1 Plant Protection Central Research Institute, Gayret Mahallesi, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bulvari, No 66, 06172 

Yenimahalle/Ankara, Turkey; yaseminguler@gmail.com 

2 Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, 06800 Beytepe/Ankara, Turkey; 

ama@hacettepe.edu.tr; dikmen@hacettepe.edu.tr 

Many varieties of sweet cherry are self-incompatible. Therefore, sweet cherry orchards 

require a huge population of pollinator bees that would carry out the adequate amount of 

pollen transfer between the different varieties. In practice, the honeybee is the main pollinator 

used in sweet cherry orchards. But the wild bees are more efficient than the honeybee in 

unfavourable climatic conditions. This study was undertaken in the sweet cherry orchards in 

Sultandaı (Afyonkarahisar province) and Akehir (Konya province) towns, Turkey. Bees 

were collected by Malaise trap from three sweet cherry orchards in the period between April- 

May in 2008 and 2009 to study the composition and richness of wild bee species. The traps 

were set in the bud swell period and lifted in the green fruit period. A total number of 1980 

bee specimens, belonging to 86 species and five families (Andrenidae, Halictidae, Apidae, 

Antophoridae, Megachilidae) were collected. Although the abundance of bee populations 

varied from year to year and from orchard to orchard in the family level, the members of 

Halictidae presented the greatest species richness both in 2008 and 2009. The results of the 

study were evaluated by Shannon-Wiener (H) and Simpson (D) diversity indexes. Differences 

in bee diversity among three orchards were shown. 

____________________________________ 

Hotspots of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) Fauna in Natural Protection Areas of East 

Mediteranean Region in Turkey 

Mehmet Faruk Gürbüz* & Ayegül Özdan 

Süleyman Demirel University Department of Biology, Isparta, Turkey; mfg@fef.sdu.edu.tr 

Halep Çamlıı, Kengerlidüz, Habib-i Neccar Natural Protection Areas which have different 

ecological characters chosen from East Mediterranian Region. This study was conducted 

between March-September for each site during 2007-2008 at day in monthly intervals. It is 

also one of the most remarkable regions of the world in terms of the biodiversity hotspots 

such that 3 of them have major extensions into Turkey: Caucasus, Irano- Anatolian, and 

Mediterranean Basin (Myers et al., 2000) Consequently, 54 species of Ichneumonidae were 

recorded; 20 species are belonging to Mediterranean Hotspot, 9 species are belonging to 

meditterranean - Caucasus Hotspots, 3 species Meditterranean - Caucasus - Irano-Anatolian 

Hotspots, 6 species Meditterranean - Irano-Anatolian Hotspots. 5 species did not found in 

these hotspots. 

Insects prone to reaching to hotspots. Banchopsis crassicornis, Syrphoctonus nigritarsus, 

Orthocentrus radialis are found first of all in Mediterranean, after pasted time, these 

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parasitoids are found in Irano Anatolian hotspots. As a result, we can say that if these 

parasitoids are in two regions, may be they can arrive at Caucasus hotspot. 

Lissonota lineata, Pion fortipes, Syrphophilus bizonarius spread three in hotspots. According 

to Yu et al., 2006, these ichneumonids were found first in Mediterranean hotspot, second in 

Irano Anatolian hotspot and lastly in Caucasus hotspot. Consequently, we can say that these 

ichneumonids may have followed these routes. 

Lathrolestes ungularis, Diaparsis nitida, Gelanes fusculus, Gelanes simillimus, Tersilochus 

nitens, which are in Palearctic region, did not find in three hotspots. These species reach to 

Mediterranean hotspot. 

____________________________________ 

Investigating the genetic control of gall induction in Cynipid gallwasps 

Jack Hearn 1 *, Graham N. Stone 1 , Mark Blaxter 1 , Joseph Shorthouse 2 & The GenePool 1 

1 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, 

EH9 3JF United Kingdom; J.Hearn@sms.ed.ac.uk; Graham.Stone@ed.ac.uk; mark.blaxter@ed.ac.uk 

2 Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 2C6 Canada; jshorthouse@laurentian.ca 

Cynipid gallwasps induce complex and morphologically diverse galls on highly-conserved 

host plants, the mechanism utilized is a long-standing entomological mystery. With the advent 

of new high-throughput sequencing technologies traits of non-model organisms with complex 

life-histories have become amenable to study. We are using a combination of Illumina GAIIx 

and Roche 454 sequencing to generate genomic data and expressed transcripts at key larval 

plus adult life stages to determine the genetic control of gall induction. Genomic data will be 

used for Cynipid genes of viral origin, analogous to virus-like-particle structural genes 

previously identified in some Polydnavirus utilizing Ichneumonoidea wasp genomes. It will 

also aid transcriptome assembly. Transcriptome sequencing of larvae during the initial gall 

induction phase will provide a set of candidate genes for control of gall-induction when 

controlled for by expression in other life-stage. A comparative approach using two species 

from different cynipid clades will test for a common conserved mechanism. The Palaearctic 

oak apple forming Biorhiza pallida and the Nearctic rose galler Diplolepis spinosa have been 

selected for this purpose. Results from initial genome sequencing, assembly and analysis are 

presented as is the plan for transcriptome sequencing. 

____________________________________ 

Relationships of Chalcidoidea: a molecular and morphological approach 

John Heraty 1 , Roger Burks 2 , James Munro 3 , Johan Liljeblad 4 , Matthew Yoder 5 & 

Elizabeth Murray 6 * 

1 Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521 USA; john.heraty@ucr.edu, 

2 burks.roger@gmail.com, 3 jbmunro@gmail.com, 4 cynips@gmail.com; 6 elizabeth.murray@email.ucr.edu 

5 Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695 USA; diapriid@gmail.com 

Chalcidoidea are economically and ecologically one of the most important groups of 

Hymenoptera. They are a hyperdiverse group of insects with more than 500,000 estimated 

species currently allocated to about 89 subfamilies in 19 families. Perhaps not surprisingly, 

there is little consensus on relationships in the group, and there has never been a 

comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the superfamily. We address their relationships using 

two approaches. First, a molecular phylogeny of 720 taxa including 51 outgroups using a 

secondary structure alignment for partial 18S and 28S sequences. Second, a morphological 

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approach based on scoring 243 characters for more than 200 representative taxa using MX, an 

on-line content management system, with the help of numerous collaborators worldwide. 

Results of the independent and combined results will be presented in an attempt to resolve the 

family level relationships in the superfamily. 

____________________________________ 

Evolution of egg parasitism under water in parasitoid Hymenoptera 

Yoshimi Hirose 

Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan; hirosey@jcom.home.ne.jp 

Parasitoid Hymenoptera are species-rich in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems, but the richness 

of hymenopterous parasitoids of aquatic insects is rather limited, given the species richness of 

potential aquatic hosts. Clearly, the aquatic habitat has been a barrier to parasitism by 

parasitoid Hymenoptera. However, subsurface egg parasitism of aquatic insects is not so rare. 

In the evolution of this type of egg parasitism, there are four reproductive strategies for 

parasitoid females that lack adaptations to dive and attack eggs of aquatic insects. Such 

parasitoids can exploit aquatic hosts in the following ways: (1) when the host’s eggs are laid 

on plants and other substrates above water, (2) when the host’s eggs are exposed above water 

at some point in their life cycle, (3) if the females walk down among the plants bearing these 

hosts under water (i.e., when the hosts are always under water), and (4) by swimming in 

search of hosts that are always under water. The last step is highly evolved, and is found in at 

least three families, Trichogrammatidae, Mymaridae and Scelionidae. Thus, females of 

species of some genera belonging to these families are well adapted to searching the hosts 

under water, but their searching by swimming might be largely limited to the hosts in ponds 

rather than those in streams. Such parasitoid females must have a difficulty in searching the 

hosts in flowing water because of their small size. Evolution of egg parasitoids also is under 

the ecological constraints of their small size since their hosts are usually smaller than those of 

larval or pupal parasitoids. 

____________________________________ 

Parasitoids of Choristoneura spp. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in the Nearctic region 

John T. Huber 1 * & José Fernández-Triana 2 

1 Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; john.huber@agr.gc.ca 

2 Biodiversity Insitute of Ontario, Guelph, ON and Canadian National Collection of Insects, Ottawa, ON, 

Canada; jftriana@uoguelph.ca 

The genus Choristoneura (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) includes several economically important 

pests in North America. The Eastern spruce budworm, C. fumiferanae is the most devastating 

pest of conifers in eastern North America but six others are also important in forestry (C. 

biennis, C. conflictana, C. pinus, C. occidentalis) or agriculture (C. rosaceana, C. parallela) 

in many parts of the continent. Decades of biological studies have resulted in literature 

records for 230 parasitoids in 106 genera from 11 of the 16 Nearctic species, including 50 

species of Braconidae in 18 genera, 113 species of Ichneumonidae in 45 genera, 51 species of 

Chalcidoidea in 29 genera (9 families), 1 species of Bethylidae, and 15 species (13 genera) of 

Tachinidae. Illustrated identification keys to most of the species and all of the genera were 

produced over the past 15 years by four taxonomists (J. Huber, A. Bennett, J. O’Hara, J. 

Fernández-Triana) based at the CNC, Ottawa. An additional 36 species (14%) of parasitoids 

are erroneous associations. 

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Choristoneura fumiferanae has the highest number of parasitoids: 122 species (53%) of the 

total for Nearctic Choristoneura. Rearings from the pest species together account for 90% of 

the parasitoid species. Only 16 parasitoid species (7%) were reared from more than 5 

Choristoneura species. The proportion varied considerably between Tachinidae, where 9 of 

15 (60%) species attacked more than 5 hosts, and Hymenoptera, where only 7 of 215 (7%) 

species attacked more than 5 hosts. Half of the parasitoid species, including those that are 

hyperparasitoids, were reared from only one Choristoneura species. The number of 

apparently monophagous parasitoids (on Choristoneura) is probably artificially inflated 

because 20 chalcid hyperparasitic species were added to the number considered to have 

emerged from only 1 Choristoneura species. If they are ignored the number of apparent 

monophages is still 112 species (48.3%). The most common genera reared are Glypta spp. 

(Banchinae), Apanteles spp. (Microgastrinae), Meteorus spp. (Meteorinae), and Macrocentrus 

spp. (Macrocentrinae). 

The only comparable taxonomic study to the four papers on Nearctic Choristoneura 

parasitoids is for Nearctic Rhyacionia (pine tip or pine shoot moths, Tortricidae). Yates 

(1967) reported 100 parasitoid species (53 genera) in 10 families, essentially the same ones as 

for Choristoneura. These were reported from 8 of the 11 species/subspecies of Rhyacionia (at 

the time 11 species were recognized; now 27 are). Most of the records came from only two 

species: R. buoliana, a European alien invasive species, and R. frustrana, a native species. 

Yates excluded another 27 species (27%) as erroneous associations. 

The value of producing artificial identification keys to particular pest species or genera as 

opposed to ‘natural’ keys to taxa is discussed in light of the scarcity of parasitic Hymenoptera 

taxonomists relative to the size of the taxa they study. 

____________________________________ 

Progress in taxonomy and systematics of Platygastroidea: new taxa, tools, and troubles 

Norman F. Johnson* & Luciana Musetti 

Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, 

Columbus, Ohio 43212 USA; johnson.2@osu.edu; musetti.2@osu.edu 

The Platygastroidea PBI is a project focusing on elaboration of the knowledge of species and 

genera of the superfamily, including both alpha taxonomy, new collectings, and phylogenetic 

analysis of relationships. The results elaborated over the past three years are described, along 

with the cyberinfrastructural tools used to accelerate and increase the accuracy of the work. 

Prospects for the final two years of the project are discussed. 

____________________________________ 

Entomophagous complex associated with the insects on Heracleum platytaenium 

(Apiaceae) in Turkey, with new records 

Erhan Koçak 

Plant Protection Central Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey; erhan_kocak@hotmail.com 

In this study, the entomophagous insect complex with hosts on endemic plant Heracleum 

platytaenium Boiss. (Apiaceae) were determined. For that, 17 parasitic hymenopters and 3 

predators were reared from their host insects, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, and 

Diptera found in umbels, stems and branches of H. platytaenium. This plant contains 

furanocoumarins that are insect repellents and suppress growth in some species. Plant 

materials with insects were collected from Ankara and Bolu provinces in July-September 

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2007-2008. All parasitoids belonging to Hymenoptera obtained from egg batches of some 

hemipters are Ooencyrtus telenomicida (Vassiliev) (Encyrtidae), Trissolcus grandis 

(Thomson) and Telenomus heydeni Mayr (Scelionidae) from Graphosoma lineatum L. 

(Hemiptera: Pentatomidae); Ooencyrtus kuvanae (Howard) from Dolycoris baccarum (L.); 

Gryon leptocorisae (Howard) from predator Rhynocoris punctiventris (Herrich-Schaeffer) 

(Hemiptera: Reduviidae). The ectoparasitoids obtained from larvae of the weevil and moths 

are Odontepyris sp. (Bethylidae) as from a moth larva in the branch, Bracon piger (Wesmael) 

and Ascogaster quadridentata (Wesmael) (Braconidae) from Epinotia thapsiana (Zeller) 

(Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in the umbel; Pristomerus vulnerator (Panzer) and Aritranis 

confusator Aubert (Ichneumonidae) from Lixus nordmanni Hochhuht (Coleoptera: 

Curculionidae) (New host) in the branch. Also an endoparasitoid Baryscapus crassicornis 

(Erdös) (Eulophidae) was obtained from larvae of L. nordmanni (New host) in the stem and 

branch. As to the pupa parasitoids, Didyctium brunnea (Belizin) (Eucolidae) was reared from 

puparia of Lasiambia albidipennis (Strobl) (Diptera: Chloropidae) (New host); Pronotalia 

carlinarum (Szelenyi and Erdos) (Eulophidae) and Homoporus febriculosus (Girault) 

(Pteromalidae) from Melanagromyza heracleana Zlobin (Diptera: Agromyzidae) (new host), 

and B. crassicornis from Lixus nordmanni Hochhuht (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) (New host) 

in the stem and branches of the plant. B. crassicornis also emerged from adults of L. 

nordmanni. It is larval, larval-pupal, pupal and pupal-adult parasitoid, not directly adult. 

Aphelinus mali (Haldeman) were reared from the aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on the plant. 

As predators, R. punctiventris (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), Scaeva pyrastri (L.) and Eupeodes 

corollae (F.) (Diptera: Syriphidae) on the plant, and spider hunters Miscophus bicolor Jurine 

and Trypoxylon attenuatum F.Smith (Crabronidae) in the stem were determined. The any 

parasitoids of flies M. heracleana and L. albidipennis were not known. So, these records are 

the first parasitoid records for the flies. Chloropidae is new host family for D. brunnea after 

Phoridae. In addition, Aritranis confusator, Gryon leptocorisae, Didyctium brunnea and 

Homoporus febriculosus are recorded from Turkey for the first time. 

____________________________________ 

Biology of egg parasitoids Trissolcus semistriatus Nees and Trissolcus grandis Thomson 

(Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) on Graphosoma lineatum L. (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in 

laboratory conditions 

Münevver Kodan 1* & M. Oktay Gürkan 2 

1 Plant Protection Central Research Institute, Gayret Mah., Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bulv., No 66, 06172, 

Yenimahalle/Ankara, Turkey; munevverkodan@gmail.com 

2 Ankara University, Agriculture Faculty, Department of Plant Protection, Ankara, Turkey; 

M.Oktay.Gürkan@agri.ankara.edu.tr 

Egg parasitoids Trissolcus species (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) are the most important natural 

enemies of sunn pest. In this study, biological parameters of Trissolcus semistriatus Nees and 

T. grandis Thomson such as parasitisation, emergence and sex ratios, development, 

oviposition and postoviposition periods, and longevity were determined using eggs of 

Graphosoma lineatum L. (Hemiptera:Pentatomidae) as host. 

To find out biological parameters of T. semistriatus and T. grandis investigations were carried 

out at 25±1 ° C temperature, 70±5% relative humidity and L:D 16:8 photoperiod in laboratory 

conditions. Three clusters of G. lineatum, which were 42 eggs, were offered to the females for 

parasitisation. Each day, parasitoids were transferred glass tube contained 42 host eggs, and 

this process was continued until female parasitoid death. Experiments were conducted to for 

each parasitoids species separately and 10 replicate. 

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At the end of the investigations; developmental times were determined as average of 

13.62±0.01 and 11.48±0.13 days for female and male of T. semistriatus, respectively. Similar 

results were also obtained for T. grandis. Both of parasitoids species males emerged before 

two days than females. Females lived significantly longer than males. While the female of T. 

semistriatus parasited an average of 173.70 ±10.69 eggs during longevity, it was found an 

average of 151.60±14.66 eggs for the female of T. grandis. Emergence range of T. 

semistriatus and T. grandis were determined between 17.50- 93.04% and 31.66- 91.46% 

respectively. It was designated that sex ratio was in favour of female at first ten days of 

parasitoids life time and in favour of male with increasing parasitoids age. Effective mass 

rearing time for both of parasitoids was also carried by these data results. 

____________________________________ 

Basics First – the phylogeny of the brood parasitic Nyssonini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) 

Stefanie Krause* & Michael Ohl 

Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung an der Humboldt- 

Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany; stefanie.krause@mfn-berlin.de; 

michael.ohl@mfn-berlin.de 

In most species of apoid wasps, the females build their own nests and stock the brood cells 

with paralyzed prey. Remarkable exceptions are the Nyssonini, a poorly studied tribe of 

worldwide distribution: All of the more than 200 recent species are assumed to be obligate 

brood parasites. That is, they use the nests and larval food provided by females of other 

crabronid wasps for their own offspring. Obligate brood parasitism evolved several times 

independently in different groups of aculeates, for example within the Pompilidae and 

Sapygidae. However, within the apoid wasps, this alternative behavior probably evolved 

twice, in the genus Stizoides and in the Nyssonini. Despite their extraordinary mode of 

parental care, which spotlight the Nyssonini, their biology, evolution and even taxonomy are 

still only poorly understood. As an essential prerequisite for further research on this group, the 

current work aims to conduct a first cladistic analysis. The genus level analysis presented here 

is based on 43 morphological characters. It includes 34 terminal taxa, which represent the 18 

nyssonine genera, as well as three outgroup-species belonging to the Alyssontini and 

Bembicini respectively. The result supports the monophyly of the Nyssonini and of most 

nyssonine genera. Nursea and Nippononysson, repeatedly described as basal genera within the 

Nyssonini, form a monophyletic group, which actually branches off early within the tribe. The 

monophyly of Foxia + (Cresson + (Perisson + Antomartinezius)), traditionally regarded as 

very close-knit group, is supported. It is found to be the sister taxon to the rather derived 

monophylum (Hovanysson camelus + Brachystegus) + (Acanthostethus + (Zanysson + 

(Metanysson + (Idionysson + Losada)))). The relationship between the disputable genera 

Nysson and Synnevrus remains unresolved. However, each of these two genera is shown to be 

not monophyletic. Hovanysson also constitutes an artificial group and needs to be revised. 

____________________________________ 

Australian spider wasp systematics (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) – clearing up more than 

200 years of confusion and misclassification 

Lars Krogmann 1 * & Andrew D. Austin 2 

1 Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany; krogmann.smns@naturkundemuseum-bw.de 

2 Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The 

University of Adelaide, Australia; andy.austin@adelaide.edu.au 

38



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The first Australian spider wasp was collected during James Cook’s famous exploration of 

Terra Australis and described by Fabricius in 1775. In the following two centuries Australian 

pompilids have received relatively little attention and were never comprehensively treated. 

The continent’s fauna is huge with an estimate of more than 500 species, about 60% of which 

are still undescribed. The generic level classification is confusing and no identification keys 

are available for most of the fauna. Large numbers of Australian species have been 

misclassified by previous authors in European genera such as Cryptocheilus and Priocnemis, 

which do not occur in Australia. The subfamily Pepsinae is taxonomically most problematic 

as it comprises the poorest studied Australian genera. Many of these genera are endemic to 

Australia, have been described on the basis of single specimens and lack proper generic 

diagnoses. Numerous pepsine genera also exhibit a striking level of sexual dimorphism, 

which complicates sex associations. In many genera males have either remained undescribed 

(see Krogmann et al. 2008) or are classified in other genera, sometimes even in different 

subfamilies. A recent catalogue of Australian pompilids (Elliott 2007) summarizes the current 

taxonomic state of the fauna and highlights some of the major problems. Here we outline the 

results of a 4-year study that recognizes 44 genera of Australian pompilids, five of which are 

recorded from the continent for the fist time. Most pepsine genera are reclassified resulting in 

dozens of new combinations and new synonomies. In addition we recognize a number of 

species groups that do not fit into existing genera and which will be formally described in 

future studies. Our generic synopsis also presents large amounts of new distributional data 

and new host records based on museum collections and recent fieldwork. 

References 

Elliott, M. (2007) Annotated catalogue of the Pompilidae (Hymenoptera) of Australia Zootaxa 

1428, 1-83. 

Krogmann, L., Day, M.C & Austin A.D. (2008) A new spider wasp from Western Australia, 

with a description of the first known male of the genus Eremocurgus (Hymenoptera: 

Pompilidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum 24, 437-441. 

____________________________________ 

Biogeography of the mutillid wasps (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) in the Palaearctic region 

Arkady S. Lelej 

Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch, Vladivostok, Russia; 


The Mutillidae is a large family of solitary wasps which currently numbers 208 genera and 

about 4200 described (c. 6000 estimated) species. Their greatest diversity occurs in the 

tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The Palaearctic fauna numbers 57 genera 

including 14 endemic ones and 506 species. 

The distributions of 57 genera in seven biogeographical subregions, as well as the dispersal 

patterns of nine subfamilies and distribution of 302 species in 24 Palaearctic local faunas, 

were analysed. Faunal similarities between five biogeographical regions of the Palaearctic 

were evaluated by using Sørensen's coefficient of similarity. The similarity matrix resulting 

from pair-wise calculations was then presented by dendrograms, ordination, and Terent'ev 

pleiades. 

The subfamilies Mutillinae (265 species, 30 genera), Dasylabrinae (103 species, five genera), 

and Myrmillinae (65 species, nine genera) are those most diverse in the Palaearctic region. 

Subfamilies Myrmosinae and Pseudophotopsidinae have Palaearctic origins. The greatest 

39



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diversity of the Mutillidae occurs in the Ancient Mediterranean Region (AMR) - 464 species 

and 47 genera, including 12 endemic and 18 unique genera. Among the subregions of the 

AMR, the Mutillidae are most abundant in the Mediterranean subregion (198 species, 34 

genera) and Irano-Turanian superprovince (178 species, 31 genera) of the Sahara-Gobi 

subregion. The East Asian region numbers 48 species in 21 genera, including nine unique 

ones common with the Oriental region. Thirty eight species in 15 genera are distributed in the 

Boreal region, but no endemic or unique genera exist there. 

The cluster analysis of the distribution of 57 genera among seven Palaearctic regions shows 

that the branch of East Asian fauna device at first (coefficient similarity 0.36) and than the 

branches of Central Asian and Sahara-Sind faunas. The Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian 

faunas of the AMR form a stable cluster (coefficient similarity 0.71, bootstrap 84). The Boreal 

region and Eurasian steppe subregion of AMR have the greatest similarity (coefficient 

similarity 0.84, bootstrap 96). The cluster analysis of the distribution of 302 species among 24 

local faunas shows that the East Asian region is most distinct. The Mutillidae of the Boreal 

region forms a weak cluster with the Mediterranean subregion. The mutillid fauna of Georgia, 

Armenia, and Azerbaijan is transitional between the Mediterranean and the Irano-Turanian 

faunas. 

The greatest diversity has AMR - 464 species, 47 genera including 12 endemic and 18 unique 

genera. On the generic level the Palaearctic fauna is the most similar to the Oriental (31 

common genera) and Afrotropical (21 common genera) faunas. The mutillid fauna of the 

Boreal region is a less diverse and poorest. In spite of the small size of the East Asian mutillid 

fauna of the Palaearctic, it is closely connected with the Oriental region. 

____________________________________ 

A remarkable new species of gallwasp (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

from South Africa, placed in a new tribe 

Johan Liljeblad 1 *, José Luis Nieves-Aldrey 2 , George Melika 3 & Stefan Neser 4 

1 Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish Agricultural University, P.O.Box 7007, SE-750 07 Uppsala, 

Sweden; cynips@gmail.com 

2 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, C/ José 

Gutiérrez Abascal 2, ES-28006 Madrid, Spain; aldrey@mncn.csic.es 



4 ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute,. Private Bag X134, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa; 

NeserS@arc.agric.za 

We describe as new a species in a new genus and new tribe. Larvae and adult females of the 

hitherto only known generation were collected from galls on the small tree Scolopia mundii 

(Eckl. & Zeyh.) Warb. (Flacourticaceae). Diagnostic characters and a key to the tribes of the 

Cynipidae are included. With its unique South African distribution and seemingly 

plesiomorphic morphology, this taxon will be important for the future untangling of the early 

evolution of the microcynipoids. 

____________________________________ 

40



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Taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of Rhopalosomatidae with special reference to 

macropterous forms (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) 

Volker Lohrmann 1 * & Michael Ohl 2 


Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany; 

1 volker.lohrmann@mfn-berlin.de, 2 michael.ohl@mfn-berlin.de 

The family Rhopalosomatidae is still one of the least known hymenopteran groups. The oldest 

fossil representatives date back to the early Cretaceous. Whereas the family assignment of the 

known compression fossils tentatively placed in Rhopalosomatidae is rather controversial, the 

affinities of Eorhopalosoma from Burmese amber is fairly clear. The two amber specimens 

share most diagnostic features of the modern macropterous forms, such as the characteristic 

wing venation, the large ocelli, apical bristles on the first flagellomeres and the upcurved male 

parameres. Nevertheless, the presence of only one apical bristle on each basal flagellomere 

and a quadridentate mandible suggests that the amber fossils are intermediate between the 

enigmatic, brachypterous genus Olixon and the modern macropterous forms. 

The recent fauna of the family currently consists of four genera, and its distribution is largely 

limited to the subtropics and tropics in all biogeographical regions. As far as is known, 

members of the family are ectoparasitoids of crickets. Although the family has been quite rare 

in collections for a long time, the number of specimens available for study has increased 

rapidly in the last 30 years as a result of the use of non-selective traps and several large-scale 

biodiversity inventory projects. As an example, this has resulted in over 300 specimens of the 

rhopalosomatid genus Liosphex, a genus previously known from two species and 15 

specimens only. Based on the newly collected material, the genus in fact comprises at least 14 

species worldwide. Based on a cladistic analysis of external morphological characters, a 

preliminary phylogeny of the world Liosphex is proposed. The results support a sister group 

relationship between Liosphex and a monophyletic clade consisting of Rhopalosoma and 

Paniscomima. Within Liosphex, the only Asiatic species, L. trichopleurum, is probably the 

sister taxon to all New World species, which together form a monophyletic group. 

____________________________________ 

Quantifying the Pleistocene history of the oak gall parasitoid Cecidostiba fungosa using 

twenty intron loci 

Konrad Lohse 1* , Barbara J. Sharanowski 2 & Graham N. Stone 1 

1 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, West Mains Road, EH9 3JT, 

UK; K.R.Lohse@sms.ed.ac.uk, graham.stone@ed.ac.uk 

2 barb.sharanowski@gmail.com, Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, 2317 Gardner 

Hall, Campus Box 7613, Raleigh, NC, USA 27695 

The longitudinal spread of temperate organisms into refugial populations in Southern Europe 

is generally assumed to predate the last interglacial. However few studies have attempted to 

quantify this process in non-model organisms using explicit models and multilocus data. We 

used sequence data for 20 intron-spanning loci (12 kb per individual) to resolve the history of 

refugial populations of a widespread western Palaearctic oak gall parasitoid Cecidostiba 

fungosa (Pteromalidae). Using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods we assess 

alternative population tree topologies and estimate divergence times and ancestral population 

sizes under a model of divergence between three refugia (Middle East, Balkans and Iberia). 

Both methods support an ‘Out of the East’ history for C. fungosa, matching the pattern 

41



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previously inferred for their gallwasp hosts. However, coalescent-based estimates of the ages 

of population divides are much more recent (coinciding with the Eemian interglacial) than 

nodal ages of single gene trees for C. fungosa and other species. Our results suggest that 

similar methods could be applied to multiple species to test alternative models of parasitoid 

assemblage evolution. 

____________________________________ 

The almond seed wasp, Eurytoma amygdali Enderlein (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae) of 

Iran, morphological and molecular aspects 

Hosseinali Lotfalizadeh 1 *, Gerard Delvare 2 & Jean-Yves Rasplus 2 

1 Agricultural Research Centre of Azarbaijan-e-Sharghi, Department of Plant Protection, Tabriz, Iran; 

lotfalizadeh2001@yahoo.com 

2 UMR INRA CIRAD IRD AGROM. Centre de Biologie et de Gestion des Populations (CBGP), Campus 

International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France 

The systematic studies of the almond seed wasp, Eurytoma amygdali Enderlein (Hymenoptera: 

Eurytomidae) were performed using morphological and molecular methods. Two different 

morphological types were identified, which appeared to be fitted with E. amygdali and E. 

schreineri characteristics. Two genetic markers COI and ITS2 were used. However, the 

molecular studies reject specific value of the second form and show two types belonged to E. 

amygdali. 

____________________________________ 

Host manipulation by spider parasitoids of the Polysphincta group 

(Pimplinae, Ichneumonidae) 

Rikio Matsumoto 

Osaka Museum of Natural History, Nagai Park 1-23, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, 546-0034, Japan; 

rikio@mus-nh.city.osaka.jp 

The Polysphincta group is a monophyletic lineage of Ephialtini of Pimplinae and comprises 

koinobiont ectoparasitoids of active spiders. The female wasp stings and paralyzes the host 

spider and lays an egg on it. The spider recovers shortly after and continues normal life. The 

parasitoid larva remains on the host body, consuming body fluids of the host. In some species, 

it is known that the host spider weaves a modified “cocoon web” of quite different structure to 

the normal web when the parasitoid larva reaches its penultimate instar. As the web 

modifications do not occur until the parasitoid reaches the penultimate instar, and the 

parasitoid larvae are on active hosts at this stage, the modified webs are considered to be 

formed by the spider under the manipulation of the parasitoid larva. 

Three types of host manipulation have been detected. 1) Weaving a modified web with 

durability: the larva of Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga induces its orb-weaving host, Leucauge 

argyla, to build a highly modified web with only radii and lines connecting them at the hub 

and lacking circular hub lines and sticky spirals, shortly before it kills the host. Similar 

modification in web structure of hosts has been observed for Reclinervellus spp. on Cyclosa 

spp., where the disappearance of most of the sticky spiral is recognized. The same kind of 

modification was observed in Cyclosa fililineata attacked by Polysphincta janzeni. Another 

modification providing durability for the web is also known in a parasitoid of the linyphiid 

spider, Neolinyphia fusca, forming a hammock-like sheet web between twigs. The cocoon of 

42



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Longitibia sp. is found in a modified web whose sheet is lost, and surrounded by densely and 

irregularly spun thick threads. 2) Weaving a modified web resistant against predators and 

scavengers: in the case of Brachyzapus nikkoensis, a parasitoid of Agelena limbata forming a 

funnel web, when the parasitoid larva is a penultimate instar, veils of very fine and dense 

threads covering the spider and parasitoid larva were observed in the tunnel of the funnel web. 

Removal of the veil indicated that penultimate instar larvae and pupae were more likely to fail 

to emerge in manipulated webs compared to the controls. The modified web seems resistant 

against predators and scavengers such as ants. 3) Arresting the growth of the host and 

detaining it in a more concealed site: the dome-like sheet webs of an immature Turinyphia 

yunohamensis, (Linyphiidae) are small and formed under leaves of the undergrowth. When 

the spiders mature, they move out to more exposed spaces to form larger webs. If the spider 

bears a larva of Zatypota sp., the growth and molt of the spider is arrested and the spider 

remains immature even when unattacked spiders become adults. Although reinforcement of 

webs was not detected in this species, this action of the parasitoid on the spider seems 

potentially adaptive for the parasitoid, which spins a cocoon on the web, because such small 

hidden webs are possibly resistant to damage. 

____________________________________ 

Impact of secondary-parasitoids on population density of Psyllaephagus pistaciae in 

pistachio plantations of Iran 

M. Reza Mehrnejad 

Pistachio Research Institute, P.O. Box 77175.435, Rafsanjan, Iran; reza_mehrnejad@hotmail.com 

The specific, solitary endoparasitoid, Psyllaephagus pistaciae Ferrière (Hymenoptera, 

Encyrtidae), is the most widely distributed biological control agent of the common pistachio 

psyllid, Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt & Lauterer (Hemiptera: Psylloidea), in Iran. The 

appearance of the first adult parasitoid in the field tended to coincide with the first psyllid 

nymphs emerging on the pistachio leaves. Thereafter, the parasitoid normally has no difficulty 

in finding its host, as all psyllid nymphal instars are available throughout the pistachio 

growing season. The parasitism rate of A. pistaciae was found low throughout spring, summer 

and early autumn, ranging from 1 to 5%, rising to about 11% in November, in orchards where 

chemical sprays were applied for pest control as usual each year. However, in orchards where 

no chemical was used for several years, the parasitism rate is also low from May through to 

September but increased to 65% in November. Of the 6159 wasps emerging from psyllids 

mummies, 26.6% were P. pistaciae, and the remaining 73.6% represented six species of 

hymenopterous hyperparasitoids, Chartocerus kurdjumovi (Nikol’skaja), Marietta picta 

(André), Pachyneuron aphidis (Bouché), Pachyneuron muscarum (Linnaeus), Psyllaphycus 

diaphorinae (Hayat) and Syrphophagus aphidivorus (Mayr). Syrphophagus aphidivorus was 

found as the dominant secondary parasitoid for the common pistachio psyllid. The presence of 

shared hyperparasitoids attacking both A. pistaciae and weed-infesting aphids in pistachio 

orchards was verified. The braconid wasp, Lysiphlebus fabarum Marshall, the parasitoid of 

Aphis gossypii Glover and Aphis craccivora Koch present on weeds was found to be an 

alternative host for three major hyperparasitoids of A. pistaciae. Syrphophagus aphidivorus 

was the most abundant hyperparasitoid for aphids in pistachio orchards. It is widely 

distributed in pistachio plantation areas. The weed-infesting aphids, along with their primary 

parasitoid, can act as a reservoir of A. pistaciae secondary parasitoids. Therefore, parasitized 

aphids allow populations of secondary parasitoids to increase and consequently to apply 

43



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higher pressure on P. pistaciae. Based on this information, the hyperparasitoid complex is an 

important factor affecting efficiency of P. pistaciae. 

____________________________________ 

Towards a compendium of Hymenoptera muscles 

István Mikó 1* , Lars B. Vilhelmsen 2 , Gary A.P. Gibson 3 , Matt J. Yoder 1 , Katja Seltmann 1 , 

Matthew A. Bertone 1 & Andrew R. Deans 1 

1 Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27609-7613, USA; 

istvan.miko@gmail.com; diapriid@gmail.com; katja_seltmann@ncsu.edu; andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

2 Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen, 

Denmark; LBVilhelmsen@snm.ku.dk 

3 Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes (CNC), Agriculture & Agri-food Canada, 


General knowledge on the muscle system is crucial for understanding the functional 

morphology of skeletal structures. Studying muscles is therefore indispensable both for the 

correct interpretation of morphological characters of any level of systematic research. The 

knowledge of the site of attachments of skeletal muscles delivers critical information for 

defining numerous traditionally used anatomical structures. Providing accurate definition for 

anatomical structures (i.e., classes) is perhaps the principle requirement for making 

hypotheses on homology. The Hymenoptera muscle compendium is an account of the 

complete skeletomusculature of the adult Hymenoptera. The muscles described in the 

compendium include those of the head, thorax, abdomen. The origin and insertion sites, 

definition and synonymous names used in Hymenoptera are proposed. The result of the trial 

for aligning Hymenoptera muscles with those of Sophophora melanogaster based on function 

is also reported. 

____________________________________ 

Biosystematics of the Cotesia flavipes species complex (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): 

Towards the effective control of mothborer pests in Australia 

K.A. Muirhead 1 , Andrew D. Austin 1* , N. Sallam 2 & S.C. Donnellan 1,3 

1 Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, The 

University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia; andy.austin@adelaide.edu.au 

2 BSES Limited, PO Box 122, Gordonvale, Queensland 4865, Australia 

3 Evolutionary Biology Unit, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, 

Australia 

The Cotesia flavipes species complex of microgastrine wasps are economically important 

worldwide for the biological control of lepidopteran stemborer species associated with 

gramineous crops. The complex currently comprises four species: C. flavipes Cameron, C. 

sesamiae (Cameron), C. chilonis (Matsumura) and C. nonagriae Olliff, which are 

morphologically very similar. The absence of clear diagnostic characters to separate the 

species and inaccurate identification have confounded past efforts to assess the impact of 

specific introductions. Moreover, geographic populations exhibit variation in host-parasitoid 

physiological compatibility and reproductive success. In addition, the species and populations 

in the complex harbour different strains of polydnaviruses (PDV). These PDVs are integrated 

in the wasp genome and play an important role in host immune suppression and, in turn, 

successful parasitism and host range. Differences in PDV symbionts among populations have 

44



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potentially important implications for host utilisation and, thus, the diagnosis of appropriate 

strains for biological control against specific host species. We have employed a multi-gene 

approach to investigate genetic variation among worldwide populations of the C. flavipes 

complex and phylogenetic congruence between wasps and their PDVs. Our results provide a 

framework for examining phylogenetically distinct lineages, identification of potential cryptic 

species, and parasitoid-host evolution and compatibility. 

____________________________________ 

Molecular and morphological revision of Evania (Hymenoptera: Evaniidae) of 

Costa Rica 

Patricia L. Mullins * , Barbara J. Sharanowski, István Mikó & Andrew R. Deans 

North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA; Plmullin@ncsu.edu, 

barb.sharanowski@gmail.com, istvan.miko@gmail.com, andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

Evaniidae are large, unique, and relatively common predators of cockroach eggs. Despite 

many fascinating biological attributes, such as mimicry complexes and variable oviposition 

behaviors, evaniids have been largely ignored by systematists and ecologists. Currently, there 

are only 6 described species of Evaniidae in Costa Rica. We discovered several new 

morphospecies of Evania in Costa Rica and have tested these concepts with novel 

morphological and molecular techniques. We have developed multiple new loci from protein 

coding genes to use as independent tests against the barcoding region of COI. We have also 

discovered several new internal morphological characters used to delineate species. 

____________________________________ 

Global patterns of host-plant association and phylogeography in the oak gallwasps 

James A. Nicholls 1 *, Chang-Ti Tang 2 , Man-Miao Yang 2 , Yoshihisa Abe 3 , John D. DeMartini 4 , George 

Melika 5 & Graham N. Stone 1 

1 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Labs, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 

3JT, UK; james.nicholls@ed.ac.uk, graham.stone@ed.ac.uk 

2 Department of Entomology, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung 40227, 

Taiwan; mmyang@nchu.edu.tw, cynipidsman@gmail.com 

3 Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Ropponmatsu, Fukuoka 810-8560, Japan; 

y_abe@scs.kyushu-u.ac.jp 

4 Department of Biological Sciences, Humboldt State University , 1 Harpst St, Arcata, California 95521, USA; 

jdd2@humboldt.edu 



Oak gallwasps (Cynipidae: Cynipini) represent a major radiation of herbivorous insects 

associated with oaks (genus Quercus) and their near relatives in the family Fagaceae. 

Information on the origins and patterns of species radiation within these gall inducing insects 

and their host plants provides insight into general questions relating to the co-evolutionary 

interactions controlling host shifts and co-radiations among herbivores and their host plants. 

Previous work on Western Palaearctic members of this wasp group highlighted the strong coevolutionary 

links between gallwasps and their host plants imposed by gall induction, with 

very few shifts between the two host oak sections present in this area. Here we test whether 

such extreme host-plant conservatism holds on a global scale, incorporating gallwasp taxa 

attacking all five major groupings within the genus Quercus, as well as species galling the 

related plant genera Lithocarpus, Castanopsis, Notholithocarpus, Chrysolepis and Castanea. 

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Specifically, we test whether on this global scale switching among host plant taxa is also rare. 

Within the Nearctic the major oak host lineages are more closely related than those occurring 

within the Palaearctic, with occasional hybridisation among them, so we test whether host 

switching within this region is more common. We also test whether deeper relationships 

among oak gallwasp lineages mirror the genus-level relationships of host plant lineages, 

supporting a hypothesis of very long-term co-radiation of these two ecologically-linked 

groups. 

Such global sampling also allows testing of the origins of this speciose insect group. Current 

levels of species diversity led the famous gallwasp researcher Alfred Kinsey to propose that 

this group originated in the Nearctic with subsequent invasion into Asia and the Western 

Palaearctic (the “Out of America” hypothesis). Under this scenario, we would expect basal 

gallwasp lineages to occur in the Nearctic, while Asian and Western Palaearctic radiations 

should be derived. In addition, basal gallwasp groups should be associated with Nearctic oak 

groups, including the endemic lineages Quercus sections Lobatae and Protobalanus and the 

genera Notholithocarpus and Chrysolepis, while shifts onto Palaearctic sections and genera 

would be secondary. In contrast, oaks and closely related Fagaceous genera appear to have 

originated in Asia, so if oak gallwasps have tracked the evolution of their host plants this 

suggests an alternative “Out of Asia” hypothesis for oak gallwasp origins. Under this 

hypothesis we predict that basal gallwasp lineages will be Asian and associated with the 

endemic Asian oak and near-oak taxa (Lithocarpus, Castanopsis, Quercus subgenus 

Cyclobalanopsis and section Cerris), with derived lineages occurring in both the Nearctic and 

Western Palaearctic. 

We test these hypotheses of origins and host plant associations using molecular data. We use 

DNA sequences from multiple genes (the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, and two nuclear 

genes – the D2 region of the 28S rRNA gene and long-wavelength opsin) and Bayesian 

inference methods to reconstruct the phylogenetic history of the Cynipini. We then map host 

plant lineage and geographic region onto these phylogenies to examine phylogeographic 

origins and host plant associations within this group. 

____________________________________ 

Taxonomy and phylogeny of inquiline oak gallwasps of Panama, with description of 

eight new species of Synergus (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Synergini) 

José Luis Nieves-Aldrey 1 * & Enrique Medianero 2 

1 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Dpto Biodiversidad Y Biología Evolutiva. C/José Gutiérrez 

Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; aldrey@mncn.csic.es 

2 Programa Centroamericano de Maestría en Entomología, Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, 

Universidad de Panamá, C. P. 0824; emedianero@ancon.up.ac.pa 

The poorly known gallwasp fauna of Panama is being inventoried and for the first time 

accurately sampled and studied. Knowledge of this fauna is interesting because it takes part of 

the southernmost distribution of the Quercus-associated Cynipidae in the Americas. In the 

frame of this project a taxonomical and phylogenetic study of the cynipid inquilines 

associated to oak gallwasps of Panama is here presented. The host gallwasp community 

sampled included sixty three gall morphotypes induced by cinipids associated with six species 

of Quercus, mainly Quercus salicifolia and Q. bumelioides. The inquiline fauna is composed 

of two genera Agastoroxenia Nieves-Aldrey & Medianero, 2010, with a single species, and 

Synergus including 10 species. Synergus mesoamericanus and S. nicaraguensis are firstly 

recorded for Panama while eight additional species are described as new. A key for the 

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identification of the inquilines of oak gallwasps of Panama is provided as well as accurate 

SEM based descriptions of all the studied species. 

A preliminary morphological phylogenetic analysis of inquilines relationships is performed 

based in 14 exemplar taxa of inquiline oak gallwasps, including representatives of all the 

known species from Panama and three outgroups namely Synergus colombianus from 

Colombia, and S. ibericus and Saphonecrus lusitanicus from Europe. The morphological 

study results in 65 characters, 62 -- from external morphology, based on scanning electron 

and light microscopy images, and three from biology. Parsimony analysis indicated a well 

supported monophyly for the clades S. mesoamericanus+S. sp. nova and another composed by 

two undescribed Synergus species, while the relationships between the remaining Panamanian 

Synergus species are uncertain and weakly supported. The phylogenetic reconstruction found 

a clade of two inquilines species, provisionally identified as Synergus closer to Saphonecrus 

than Synergus, as well as Agastoroxenia panamensis as the sister group of the remaining 

Synergus species. 

____________________________________ 

Contributions to the Braconidae (Hymenoptera) fauna of Turkey 

nanç Özgen 1 * & Ahmet Beyaraslan 2 

1 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Dicle, 21280 Diyarbakır, Turkey; 

inancoz@hotmail.com 

2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Trakya, Edirne, Turkey 

This study was carried out to determine the species of Braconidae found in vineyard, pistachio 

and almond orchards in Diyarbakır, Mardin and Siirt provinces in 2006-2009. In the study, the 

specimens were caught using light trap in pistachio and almond orchards and sweepnet in 

vineyards. The total of 16 species determined are Orgilus (Orgilus) punctiventris (Tobias, 

1976), Phanerotoma (Phanerotoma) leucobasis (Kriechbaumer, 1894), Phanerotoma 

(Bracotritoma) parva (Kokujev, 1903), Homolobus (Apatia) truncator (Say, 1829), Meteorus 

rubens (Nees, 1811), Bracon (Lucobracon) erraticus (Wesmael, 1838), Bracon (Hablobrcon) 

breviradiatus (Tobias, 1957), Macrocentrus collaris (Spinola, 1808), Heterospilus tadzhicus 

(Belokobly, 1983), Hormius moniliatus (Nees, 1811), Chelonus (Microchelonus) flavipalpis 

(Szépligeti), Mirax rufilabris (Haliday), Chelonus sp., Dorytosoma sp, Spathius sp.and Rogas 

sp. Eight species are first records for the Turkish fauna. These species are O. punctiventris, P. 

leucobasis, P. parva, H. truncator, B. breviradiatus, H. tadzhicus, H. moniliatus ve C. 

(Microchelonus) flavipalpis. 

____________________________________ 

Daring the impossible - a phylogenomic 2000 species approach to 

Hymenoptera phylogeny 

Ralph S. Peters 1 *, Benjamin Meyer 1 , Lars Krogmann 2 , Janus Borner 3 , Oliver Niehuis 4 , Kai Schütte 1 & 

Bernhard Misof 4 

1 Zoologisches Museum Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany; 

ralph.peters@uni-hamburg.de. 

2 Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany. 

3 Zoologisches Institut der Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany. 

4 Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany. 

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Countless molecular data of Hymenoptera species have been gathered over the last years, 

constantly growing in size and number. Our knowledge on Hymenoptera phylogeny is 

currently limited by the ability to combine these data in a fast, yet accurate and objective way. 

We present a novel approach to overcome this problem and to exploit what was published 

before and hence picture what we virtually already know. We used all molecular data of 

Hymenoptera taxa accessible through GenBank and put them in a single analysis. Our study 

combines approaches to several issues on different levels: 

Firstly, we provide a methodical pipeline on how to acquire and prepare those enormous and 

variable data for the final tree reconstruction, including automatic download, orthologue 

search, sequence processing, quality management, alignment, partitioning, filtering 

ambiguous or randomly similar sites and eliminating heterogeneity. 

Secondly, we present the methods of tree reconstruction that can be performed with very large 

datasets in a reasonable time and with high accuracy. Our method of choice is tree 

reconstruction with a super distance matrix (SDM). The super distance matrix is obtained by 

combining NJtrees of single genes with optimized branch lengths. Subsequently, the 

phylogenetic tree is reconstructed from the matrix with a neighbour-joining algorithm. The 

SDM method also provides a super variance matrix that allows identification and elimination 

of unplaceable taxa. 

Thirdly, we show our results on Hymenoptera phylogeny. Open questions include systematic 

status and positioning of recognized superfamilies and of higher taxa, such as Aculeata, 

Proctotrupomorpha, and Evaniomorpha. Additionally to our contribution to understanding the 

origin and evolution of Hymenoptera these results allow us to point out open questions or 

weakly supported nodes to guide future studies in terms of taxon and marker selection. 

Our dataset comprises more than 300 nuclear and mitochondrial genes and some 2000 

Hymenoptera species from more than 70 families from all 22 superfamilies currently 

recognized. 

The Hymenoptera are exceptionally numerous and diverse in terms of life history and feeding 

habits, i.e. include parasitoids, predators, phytophaga, eusocial and solitary taxa, and are 

known to be systematically challenging. This makes them an excellent exemplar clade for our 

approach. However, the presented approach is designed as a general approach and can be 

applied to all taxa following the presented pipelines of data preparation and analysis. 

____________________________________ 

The poverty of partitioned analyses and character-type chauvinism 

Kurt M. Pickett 1 * & James M. Carpenter 2 

1 Department of Biology, University of Vermont, 120A Marsh Life Science Building, 109 Carrigan Drive, 

Burlington, VT 05405, USA; kurt.pickett@uvm.edu 

2 American Museum of Natural History, NYC, USA; carpente@amnh.org 

Phylogenetic analyses of individual partitions of data (gene fragments, parts of the 

morphology, behavior, etc). sometimes give different results. This should be of no surprise, 

as even small amounts of data from the same partition will do the same. However, the 

common interpretation that is given is that morphology and molecules show fundamentally 

different patterns, leading researchers to simply pick the phylogeny from whichever data 

source they prefer, or to malign the utility of another data source entirely. Using social wasps 

and their close relatives as examples, we show that multiple different analyses that combine 

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all available data support traditional views of taxonomy much more than the individual 

analysis of partitions from any source. 

____________________________________ 

Evolutionary history and phylogeography of western Mediterranean Synophrus 

inquiline gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini) 

Juli Pujade-Villar 1* , Caterina Rodriguez 1 , Graham N. Stone 2 , George Melika 3 , Zsolt Penzés 4, 5 , M.L. 

Ben Jamâa 6 , M. Ouakid 7 , Y. Adjami 7 , R. Bouhraoua 8 , F. Boukreris 8 & M.A. Arnedo 1 

1 Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Biologia, Dpt. Biologia Animal, Avda Diagonal-645, 08028-Barcelona, 

Spain; jpujade@ub.edu, kate.giner@gmail.com, and marnedo@ub.edu 

2 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; Graham.Stone@ed.ac.uk 

3 Pest Diagnostic Laboratory, Plant Protection & Soil Conservation Directorate of County Vas, Tanakajd, 

Hungary; melikageorge@gmail.com 

4 Institute of Genetics, Biological Research Centre of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary 

5 Department of Ecology, Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary; penzes@bio.u-szeged.hu 

6 Institut National de Recherches en Génie Rural, Eaux et Forêts. BP 10. Ariana 2080, Tunisia; 

benjamaa.lahbib@iresa.agrinet.tn 

7 Badji Mokhtar Université d’Annaba, Faculté des Science, Département de Biologie, B. P. 12, Annaba, Algeria; 

adjamiy@yahoo.fr; ouakid@hotmail.com 

8 Université Abou Bekr Belkaïd, Faculté des Sciences, Département de Foresterie, BP 119 Imama, Tlemcen 

13000, Algeria; oumene@yahoo.fr; rtbouhraoua@yahoo.fr 

Unlike most Cynipidae species, the tribe Synergini develops as obligate inquilines within the 

galls induced by other cynipids. The genus Synophrus stands apart from other Synergini 

genera by its remarkable abilities to enlarge and modify the structure of host galls. Synophrus 

has been recently the subject of a molecular phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision. 

The sampling of the western Mediterranean populations, however, was very sparse and left 

many questions unanswered. Reproductive patterns in Synophrus hispanicus are of special 

evolutionary interest. The Iberian populations of this species seem to be parthenogenetic, 

while both males and females have been reported in their North African counterparts. 

Synophrus olvieri, also present in the western Mediterranean, shows contrasting patterns of 

plant host association between its two disjunctive distribution areas. This species is found on 

Q. suber in North Africa, but it has been collected on Q. brantii and Q. libani in Iran. With 

the aim of providing a deeper understanding on the evolutionary history and phylogeographic 

patterns of S. hispanicus and S. olivieri, we are currently conducting a phylogenetic and 

population genetic analyses of a large sample of specimens collected along their distribution 

range using a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers. We will present preliminary 

results of these analyses, along with new information on hosts. 

____________________________________ 

Proposed worldwide molecular survey of tephritid-parasitoid associations using fly 

puparia: a new approach to understanding host associations, systematics, and ecology in 

complex tritrophic communities 

Sonja Scheffer 1 , Robert A. Wharton 2 , Allen Norrbom 3 & Matthew L. Buffington 3* 

1 Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD, USA; agromyzidsjs@gmail.com 

2 Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA; rawbaw2@tamu.edu 

3 Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA-ARS, NMNH, Washington, DC, USA 

Investigating dipteran-parasitoid interactions in complex communities is challenging. Often it 

is not possible to unambiguously associate a reared wasp with its fly host unless no other 

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potential hosts are reared from the same collection. Morphological identification of large 

numbers of reared fly or wasp specimens is limited by the availability/willingness of 

taxonomic specialists, and generally, in large studies, a nearly unmanageable number of 

undescribed species are discovered. In addition, pupal mortality during the rearing process 

may reach 40% resulting in a tremendous loss of fly-wasp association data. 

We propose to use a novel molecular approach involving DNA-barcode data to 

unambiguously associate fruit-feeding tephritids and their parasitoids across a global 

framework of crop species and native plant hosts. This will be accomplished by more-or-less 

replicating the sampling design of Copeland, Luke, & Wharton’s (2009) multiyear tephritidparasitoid 

rearing project in Kenya with several modifications: 1) approximately 80% of 

pupae emerging from fruits will be immediately preserved for DNA-barcoding of both fly 

DNA and, if present, parasitoid DNA, 2) adult flies and wasps will be reared from the 

remaining 20% of pupae, and these specimens will be DNA-barcoded in order to associate 

adults with pupal samples, and 3) extensive sampling over three years (years 1-3) will 

simultaneously take place in 10-15 tephritid-rich regions of the world, and the processing, 

parasitoid screening, and DNA sequencing of the thousands of samples will take place over 4 

years (years 2-5). 

All of the data from this project will be immediately, publicly, and freely available via 

project-specific web portals and databases that link with established systems (GenBank, BOL, 

EOL, etc.). DNA-barcoded adult specimens will be immediately deposited into major 

museum collections. Aliquots of genomic DNA from DNA-barcoded specimens (both flies 

and parasitoids) will be made available, upon request, to researchers for use in their research 

programs. We hope that all scientists with interests in tephritid-parasitoid interactions will use 

any portions of the data to address questions involving taxonomy, cryptic species, 

systematics, biocontrol, phylogeography, food webs, specialization, host-shifts, etc. The 

science, scope and impacts of this project are unprecedented and will usher in a new era of 

understanding and managing complex global communities. 

____________________________________ 

A preliminary study of molecular relationships within Diplolepis polita 

(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

Katherine N. Schick 1 *, Daniel Potter 2 & Joseph D. Shorthouse 3 

1 Essig Museum of Entomology, 211 Wellman Hall, 3112, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3112, 

USA; kaschick@berkeley.edu 

2 2148 Wickson Hall, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA; dpotter@ucdavis.edu 

3 Biology Department, Laurentian University, Sudbury ON P3E 2C6, Canada; jshorthouse@laurentian.ca 

Diplolepis polita (Ashmead, 1890) is the most geographically widespread species of the genus 

Diplolepis (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in addition to having a surprisingly broad range of host 

plant species. Some distinct differences in adult morphology within one of the Canadian 

populations further suggest that this might be a species group and not just a single widespread 

species. As a preliminary test of the diversity within this species (or species-group) DNA was 

extracted from larvae of Diplolepis polita collected from populations in localities throughout 

Canada, Alaska and California. Extracted DNA was then amplified via PCR to examine one 

nuclear gene sequence (Long-Wave Rhodopsin), a ribosomal DNA sequence (28S rDNA), 

and two mitochondrial gene sequences (Cytochrome Oxidase I and Cytochrome B). We 

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discuss the usefulness of these particular gene sequences in cynipid phylogenetic analysis as 

well as implications for the validity of this species. 

____________________________________ 

Defense in honeybees: can bees determine how much is at risk? 

Justin O. Schmidt 

Southwestern Biological Institute, 1961 W. Brichta Dr., Tucson, AZ 85745, USA; ponerine@dakotacom.net 

Selection pressure acts simultaneously at several levels - including at the individual level and 

the colony level - to minimize risks while maximizing fitness. In honeybees, defense against 

large predators is risky and costly, and the ultimate reward for an individual successfully 

defending the colony is death from loss of the stinger into the potential predator. This success 

is also a cost both for the individual and the colony. The benefit of successfully stinging a 

threatening predator is an enhanced reduction in the probability of damage to, or destruction 

of, the reproductive unit: in this case, the honeybee colony of 3-60 thousand individuals. 

Defensive failure can have the ultimate cost to both the individual and the colony of failure to 

pass their genes to subsequent generations (fitness = 0). Given the extreme risks and costs of 

defensive behavior on one hand, and the potential benefit to individual and colony fitness on 

the other hand, individual defenders should optimally evaluate the risk-benefit ratio in 

executing defensive actions. The lower the potential harm level to the colony unit, the lower 

should be the risks taken by individuals. The opposite should apply to colonies having large 

potentials for harm. I hypothesize that risk of predation to a colony is proportional to the 

colony resources as measured by immature brood, honey, and pollen reserves, and that 

defending workers will be able to evaluate the risk to the colony and will tailor their defensive 

vigor accordingly. Data testing defensive responses of workers in colonies with little to lose 

and in others with much to lose will be presented and discussed. 

____________________________________ 

Breaking the bonds of Gondwana – adaptive radiation of the Gondwanan pergid 

sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta, Pergidae) 

Stefan Schmidt 1 * & G.H. Walter 2 

1 Zoologische Staatssammlung, Münchhausenstr. 21, 81247 Munich, Germany; Hymenoptera@zsm.mwn.de 

2 School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia; 

g.walter@uq.edu.au 

The Pergidae show a Gondwanan distribution with the majority of species occurring in South 

America and Australia. They are the dominant sawfly family in Australia and one of the 

major families in the Neotropics. In Australia, three of the eight pergid subfamilies are 

associated exclusively with eucalypts and related Myrtaceae. These plants are characterised 

by high concentrations of potentially toxic essential oils (e.g. 1,8-cineole) and phytophagous 

insects that feed on them have developed specific mechanisms to deal with these oils. The two 

subfamilies Perginae and Pterygophorinae use different mechanisms to deal with the same 

toxic components in their respective host plants. Larvae of the Perginae have the inner surface 

of their mandibles equipped with soft brush-like structures for separating leaf oils from 

nutritive plant matter. Oil that, despite the filter mechanism, does reach the midgut is 

metabolised to hydroxycineole. The related Pterygophorinae also feed mainly on oil-rich 

Myrtaceae, but they do not sequester the oil and lack morphological structures on their 

mandibles. Pterygophorine larvae rely solely on chemical detoxification of the relevant plant 

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compounds. Both the Perginae and Pterygophorinae are, like their eucalypt host plants, 

endemic to Australasia. We assume that adaptive radiation of Australian sawflies that are 

attached to oil-rich Myrtaceae is closely associated with the aridification of the Australian 

continent and the adaptive radiation of the eucalypts and their allies during the Mid-Cenozoic. 

A phylogeny of the Pergidae based on morphological and molecular characters provides the 

basis for examining questions relating to the timing, specific environmental circumstances 

and preadaptations associated with this transition. 

____________________________________ 

An introduction to gall formation 

Karsten Schönrogge 

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK; ksc@ceh.ac.uk 

The formation of insect galls on plants is one of the most fascinating, yet least understood 

examples of interspecies communication and manipulation. It is wide spread and many insect 

families evolved the ability to induce galls. Cynipid galls excel in the complexity of tissues 

and structures their galls display and one might expect the signaling to reflect this complexity. 

While the fundamental gall formation process is still unknown I will provide a short summary 

of past work on process and symptoms as an introduction to current work described in the 

following talk. 

____________________________________ 

Ophion (Ichneumonidae) of western Canada: molecules, morphology and species 

delimitation in a taxonomically challenging genus 

Marla D. Schwarzfeld* & Felix A.H. Sperling 

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; 

marla.schwarzfeld@ualberta.ca; felix.sperling@ualberta.ca 

Ophion is a genus of large nocturnal Ichneumonidae in the subfamily Ophioninae. Whereas 

the Ophioninae are generally more diverse in the tropics, Ophion is most diverse in temperate 

regions, with an estimated 50 Nearctic species. Most species are internal parasitoids of 

medium to large-sized Lepidoptera larvae, especially Noctuidae. They are frequently 

collected at light traps, and are common in most habitat types. However despite their 

abundance, ease of collection and conspicuous size, the Nearctic Ophion remain very little 

studied. Only twelve species have been described, and most records are from eastern North 

America. Ophion are difficult to distinguish morphologically and have a great deal of 

intraspecific variability. Such species are often inaccurately or incompletely resolved with 

morphological analysis alone, and are thus well-suited to the use of molecular techniques. I 

am conducting a taxonomic study of Canadian Ophion, with an emphasis on western Canada, 

using a combined morphological and molecular approach. For the molecular analysis, I am 

sequencing both mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (ITS2) regions. I have found that both of 

these regions are highly variable and informative within the genus, with sequence divergences 

of up to 14%. For the morphological analysis I am using characters that have been found to 

be informative in Ophioninae in other geographic regions, as well attempting to discover 

reliable characters that have not previously been examined. I will also be conducting a 

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morphometric analysis of wing venation, as a further tool to distinguish species. Preliminary 

results and implications of these analyses will be discussed. 

____________________________________ 

Building the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology through exploration of the Journal of 

Hymenoptera Research 

Katja Seltmann* 1 , Matthew A. Bertone 2 , Matthew J. Yoder 3 , István Mikó 4 , Elizabeth S. Macleod 5, 

Andrew Ernst 6 & Andrew R. Deans 7 

North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA 

1 katja_seltmann@ncsu.edu, 2 matthew.bertone@gmail.com, 3 diapriid@gmail.com, 4 istvan.miko@gmail.com, 

5 elizabethscottmacleod@gmail.com, 6 ernsthausen@gmail.com, 7 andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

The Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology (HAO) project aims to capture the complex lexica used 

to describe hymenoptera anatomy. Our core data are extracted from the corpus of published 

works, particularly descriptions of new taxa. We reviewed the Journal of Hymenoptera 

Research (JHR) to extract new labels and ontological classes, explored the completeness of 

the present version of the HAO, and reflected upon community language trends. Three 

hundred and fifty three (353) Journal of Hymenoptera Research articles were parsed, accessed 

through the Biodiversity Heritage Library and vetted against the present ontology. New labels 

(2121) were collected during this process including about 650 adjectives used to qualify 

morphological features. Language trends were revealed in the process, showing the 

occurrence of anatomical labels used in the literature, possibly reflecting the character 

systems and qualifiers we most often use to describe novel taxa. Additionally the novel 

software used for text extraction is reviewed, outlining possible improvements and useful 

tools resulting from this effort. 

____________________________________ 

A salute to the ensign wasps: molecular phylogenetics of Evaniidae 

Barbara J. Sharanowski 1* & Andrew R. Deans 2 

North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA 

1 barb.sharanowski@gmail.com 2 andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

Generic relationships among Evaniidae have been largely ambiguous in previous molecular 

analyses. Additionally, the phylogenetic relationships among members of Evanioidea and 

their relative position within Hymenoptera have never been satisfactorily resolved. Here, we 

examine phylogenetic relationships among genera of Evaniidae, as well as the position of the 

family within Evanioidea, using molecular data. We also make inferences regarding the 

phylogenetic position of Evanioidea relative to other superfamilies within the order. We 

present a robust, well-supported phylogeny of Evaniidae utilizing multiple molecular markers, 

several new to hymenopteran research. Furthermore we hypothesize evolutionary pathways 

concerning host usage and body size within Evaniidae, based on phylogenetic patterns. 

____________________________________ 

Morphology and molecules, the first comprehensive, total evidence, phylogenetic 

analysis of the Hymenoptera 

Michael J. Sharkey 1 *, James M. Carpenter 2 , Lars Vilhelmsen 3 , John Heraty 4 , Fredrik Ronquist 5 , 

Andrew R. Deans 6 , Ashley P.G. Dowling 7 , David Hawks 4 , Susanne Schulmeister 2 & Ward C. 

Wheeler 2 

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1 Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA; msharkey@uky.edu 

2 Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, 

New York, NY, 10024, USA 

3 Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Denmark 

4 Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA 

5 Department of Entomology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, SE-10405 Stockholm, 

Sweden 

6 Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695 USA 

7 Department of Entomology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AK, 72701 USA 

The first comprehensive analysis of higher-level phylogeny of the order Hymenoptera is 

presented. The analysis includes representatives of all extant superfamilies, scored for 392 

morphological characters, and sequence data for four loci (18S, 28S, COI and Ef1). 

Including three outgroup exemplars, 100 terminals were analyzed. Relationships within 

Apocrita are resolved. Well supported relationships include: Orussidae is sister to Apocrita; 

Evanioidea is monophyletic; Aculeata is sister to Evanioidea; Proctotrupomorpha is 

monophyletic; Ichneumonoidea is the sister-group of Proctotrupomorpha; Platygastroidea is 

sister to Cynipoidea, and together they are sister to the remaining Proctotrupomorpha; 

Proctotrupoidea s.s. is monophyletic; Mymarommatoidea is the sister-group of Chalcidoidea; 

Mymarommatoidea + Chalcidoidea + Diaprioidea is monophyletic. Weakly supported 

relationships include: Stephanoidea is sister to the remaining Apocrita; Ceraphronoidea is 

sister to Megalyroidea, which together form the sister-group of (Trigonaloidea (Aculeata + 

Evanioidea)); Diaprioidea is monophyletic; Xiphydriidae is sister to Orussidae + Apocrita. 

Symphytan relationships are well resolved as follows: (Xyeloidea (Pamphilioidea 

(Tenthredidoidea (Cephoidea (Siricoidea (Xiphydrioidea (Orussoidea + Apocrita))))))). 

____________________________________ 

Biology of some parasitoids of Apoda limacodes (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae) in Europe 

Mark R. Shaw 

National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK; markshaw@xenarcha.com 

The isolated family Limacodidae is represented in Europe by very few species, of which only 

two are widespread. The larger of these, Apoda limacodes, is regularly parasitised by five 

species of larval parasitoids. The biologies of the three most extreme specialists, one species 

each in the Braconidae: Rogadinae genera Rogas and Triraphis and the Ichneumonidae: 

Tryphoninae genus Sphinctus, are outlined. 

____________________________________ 

Structural colours in Hymenoptera wings 

Ekaterina Shevtsova* & Christer Hansson* 

Department of Biology, Zoology, Lund University, Sweden; Ekaterina.Shevtsova@cob.lu.se, 

Christer.Hansson@cob.lu.se 

Compared to the colourful wings in butterflies wings in Hymenoptera are usually regarded as 

colourless. Typically monographs on Hymenoptera describe the wings as transparent or with 

pigmented patterns in different shades of brown, to black, but without any mention of more 

colourful tints. However, small Hymenoptera ( 3 mm) in particular actually display a 

multitude of colours on their wings, if viewed properly. These colours are distributed in a 

non-random pattern, and are frequently taxon-specific. We call this pattern WIP − Wing 

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Interference Pattern, and it is the result of thin film interference. The reflected patterns appear 

strong in live specimens and are perfectly preserved also in hundreds of years old dry museum 

specimens. 

Most of the 17.000 species of butterflies can be distinguished by their wing colours alone. Our 

preliminary evaluation of WIP suggests that the same is the case for several groups of 

Hymenoptera. Especially in groups including small species with wing discs devoid of veins, 

e.g. the Chalcidoidea, the WIP could become a powerful tool for classification, species 

recognition and behavioural studies. 

A Hymenoptera wing is composed of a single compressed double layer of transparent chitin, 

ideal for two-beam thin film interference, with beams reflecting from the upper and lower 

surfaces of the membrane respectively. The colour patterns are non-iridescent – dioptrically 

stabilized and reinforced by membrane corrugations, chaetotaxy, venation and pigmentation. 

These patterns reflect uneven thickness of the wing membrane, and if calibrated against a 

colour scale, the WIP colours can be used to calculate the thickness of different parts of the 

wing. 

Membrane thicknesses, formation of membrane corrugations, chaetotaxy, all of which affect 

the WIP, are controlled genetically. Exactly how and by which genes this regulation occur 

remains to be established. However, comparing to investigations in Diptera where wing 

pigment patterns have been demonstrated to be formed and controlled by a set of 

spatiotemporal on/off switches for particular loci, similar regulating mechanisms are likely to 

be present in Hymenoptera. 

The reflected colour sequence, which excludes red, fits the colour-vision in insects, strongly 

suggesting their biological significance for visual signalling. We therefore find it highly 

unlikely that the colourful WIP palette is merely an optical effect without biological 

significance. The production of WIPs is a highly cost-effective way to create visual signals. 

Unlike in the Lepidoptera, where colour patterns are made from scales − i.e. additional 

structures that cost energy to produce − the colour patterns in Hymenoptera do not need extra 

structures for their creation, and thus do not consume extra energy beyond, occasionally, the 

cost of pigment formation. Species-specific WIPs produced energy-efficiently may add a lot 

to e.g. speciation events through species recognition systems driven by visual pre-mating 

activities. Hymenoptera is a very successful insect group with very high species diversity. The 

majority of species are small, having the ideal size to display WIPs. All these things 

considered the WIP could be an important factor for the outstanding success of the 

Hymenoptera. 

____________________________________ 

Oak Provenances on Trial: the distribution of gall forming wasps at an experimental 

oak plantation in Northwest France 

Frazer Sinclair 1,2* , Karsten Schönrogge 1 , Graham N. Stone 2 & Stephen Cavers 3 

1 Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK; FRNC@ceh.ac.uk 

2 University of Edinburgh, UK 

3 Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Edinburgh, UK 

Recent climate change predictions suggest that by 2050, much of southern Britain will 

become unfavourable for native genotypes of several broadleaved tree species currently 

favoured in commercial forestry. A possible management strategy is to source seeds from 

sites in Europe where trees are currently adapted to the climatic conditions predicted for the 

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UK. However, work in the field of community genetics suggests that tree genotype can 

dramatically influence associated communities, and thus, the large-scale planting of nonnative 

tree genotypes in the UK could have consequences for associated biodiversity. If 

communities are locally adapted to native tree genotypes then introduced genotypes should 

have a negative influence. If however communities are adaptable, then a combination of 

native and non-native genotypes may represent a broader niche and the influence could be 

positive. In this study, the influence of non-native tree genotypes is investigated using a 

model system of oak trees (Quercus petraea) and herbivorous gall wasps (Hymenoptera: 

Cynipidae) at an experimental provenance trial in Northwest France. Oaks are an important 

source of commercial timber in Europe, and they support the largest diversity of herbivorous 

insects of any European tree. At the provenance trial, the local populations of gallwasps are 

exposed to oaks from over 100 European populations (provenances). It is predicted that if 

these gallwasps are adapted to local oaks, then they will be most abundant on those 

provenances who are most genetically similar to, or whose phenotype most closely matches 

that of the local oak population. In spring and autumn 2008 and 2009, trees from 20 

provenances were surveyed for gallwasps and the data were analysed in relation to host-tree 

provenance and host-tree phenotype. Initial results indicate that oak provenance dramatically 

influences the abundance of gallwasps, and that gallwasps are generally most abundant on 

provenances that are geographically close to the trial site. This supports the prediction that 

gallwasps are locally adapted to tree phenotypes/genotypes, and that introduced genotypes 

would have a negative influence on native communities. Ongoing work aims to address the 

further question of how host-tree provenance can influence the associations between 

gallwasps and their parasitoid natural enemies. 

____________________________________ 

An inordinate fondness for parasitoid wasps: 

DNA barcoding data from a global array of projects 

M. Alex Smith 1 , Jose L. Fernández-Triana 1* , Kees van Achterberg 2 , Henri Goulet 3 , Winnie Hallwachs 4 

Jan Hrcek 5 John T. Huber 3 , Daniel H. Janzen 4 , Scott Miller 6 , Donald L.J. Quicke 7 , Josephine 

Rodriguez 8 , Michael J. Sharkey 9 , Darren Ward 10 , James B. Whitfield 11 , Alejandro Zaldivar-Riverón 12 

& Paul D.N. Hebert 1 

1 Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Canada; salex@uoguelph.ca, jftriana@uoguelph.ca, 

phebert@uoguelph.ca 

2 Department of Terrestrial Zoology, NCB Naturalis, the Netherlands; achterberg@naturalis.nnm.nl 

3 Canadian National Collection of Insects, Canada; Henri.Goulet@agr.gc.ca, John.Huber@agr.gc.ca 

4 Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, United States; whallwac@sas.upenn.edu, 

djanzen@sas.upenn.edu 

5 Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre ASCR, Czech Republic; janhrcek@gmail.com 

6 Department of Entomology, Smithsonian, United States; MillerS@si.edu 

7 Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College, United Kingdom; d.quicke@imperial.ac.uk 

8 National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, United States; 

rodriguez@nceas.ucsb.edu 

9 Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, United States, msharkey@uky.edu 

10 Landcare Research, New Zealand; WardDA@landcareresearch.co.nz 

11 Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, United States;jwhitfie@life.illinois.edu. 

12 Instituto de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de México; azaldivar@ibiologia.unam.mx 

Parasitoid wasps are the largest group within Hymenoptera, comprising perhaps 10 % of the 

terrestrial eukaryote life. Most of its species are undescribed and there are considerable 

taxonomic difficulties and practical limitations in dealing with this enormous diversity. Here 

we present an overview of DNA barcoding projects on parasitoid Hymenoptera (mostly 

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Ichneumonoidea and Chalcidoidea) that are underway based on material from the Arabian 

Peninsula (Oman, UAE, Yemen), Canada (Arctic and Sub-Arctic), Democratic Republic of 

Congo, Madagascar, Meso-America (Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica, and 

Mexico), Papua New Guinea, Sweden, Thailand, United States, and New Zealand. Vouchers 

specimens from which DNA extracts were obtained are deposited in the authors’ institutions 

(listed above). 

For every project we summarize results, including the cumulative number of species as 

defined by DNA barcoding. The species richness revealed in most of the projects was greater 

than expected, even for areas thought to contain low diversity. We tested the results of 

barcoding against traditional taxonomic data such as morphology, ecology and biology in 

several projects (especially Microgastrinae from Costa Rica and Canada; Orthocentrinae and 

Alysiinae from Churchill) and found that the results from both approaches are similar in more 

than 90 % of cases, except that barcoding reveals groups of unexpected species “hiding” 

within morphologically-defined species. 

We conclude that DNA barcoding can provide a rapid and accurate overview of species 

richness within parasitoid Hymenoptera. The results are most robust when integrated with 

morphological and ecological data; however, barcode data alone will make a significant 

contribution to our understanding of this group. 

____________________________________ 

What do we know about Chrysis ignita (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae)? 

Villu Soon 

Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu 

51014, Estonia; villu.soon@ut.ee 

Chrysididae is a cosmopolitan Hymenoptera family that includes about 3000 named species. 

The largest genus in the family, Chrysis Linnaeus is also the type genus for the family. 

Chrysis is divided into 70 species groups, of which the largest is the C. ignita species group, 

which includes C. ignita Linnaeus, 1758, the type species for the genus and the best studied 

species in the family. From numerous published sources we know that its distribution covers 

most of the Palearctic region from Macaronesian islands in the west to Japanese islands in the 

East. The life cycle of C. ignita is relatively well documented: it is one of only eleven cuckoo 

wasp species for which the mature larvae have been described, and even its oogenesis has 

been studied. The ecology of C. ignita is also well documented with the first identification of 

its hosts published in 1869. Currently more than 20 host species have been documented for 

this cuckoo wasp, suggesting that the species is not very host specific. 

Despite its overall homogeneous morphology, C. ignita is known to exhibit considerable 

variation in minor morphological details. This has led to the establishment of numerous 

names, which are treated as synonyms, forms, varieties, subspecies or even separate species. 

The usage of these names varies from author to author, with the most conservative authors 

treating more than 30 names as synonymous with ignita. Since treatment of the C. ignita 

species group is so variable I aimed to delimit each of the taxa involved. Because 

morphological methods have been only partially successful, I focused on molecular methods 

and used mitochondrial DNA sequences for reconstructing the phylogeny of the European 

taxa within the group. 

The results of my study demonstrated that many of the names often treated as synonyms of C. 

ignita in fact represent separate species. Furthermore, there appeared to be undescribed 

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cryptic species among the taxa usually grouped together into C. ignita. Therefore, the 

portrayal of C. ignita as a widespread variable species with wide host selection must be 

reconsidered. In this light, reliable understanding about its distribution, morphology and 

ecology becomes very limited since most published data cannot be associated with C. ignita 

sensu stricto. Indeed, the wide distribution area of the species is questionable, and I have only 

confirmed its occurrence in Europe, where it has actually become rare in recent years. 

Similarly, most, if not all, published host-parasite relationships of C. ignita must be 

considered as unconfirmed. Moreover, we cannot now be sure whether described details about 

the oogenesis and larval morphology of C. ignita could be associated with C. ignita sensu 

stricto. 

____________________________________ 

Phylogeny and systematics of the tribe Meteorini (Braconidae) 

Julia Stigenberg 

Stockholm University and Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden; Julia.stigenberg@nrm.se 

Parasitic wasps comprise a sizable portion of the animal diversity that remains to be 

described. Even the species that have names often remain very poorly known. In Sweden, 

parasitic wasps comprise roughly a quarter of the animal species for which the information is 

so scant that the Swedish populations cannot be judged according to the IUCN red-listing 

criteria (Gärdenfors 2000). 

The Braconidae are one of the most diverse families of parasitic wasps. They develop as 

parasites of a wide range of insects and form an important component of most terrestrial food 

webs. The world fauna is estimated at 40 000 species (Gaston 1991), and the Swedish fauna 

may hold as many as 2 000 species (roughly 1 200 currently known). In terms of species 

richness, braconids are second only to the Ichneumonidae among families of animals. There is 

about 30 subfamilies of Braconidae, most of which occur in Sweden. Our research will focus 

on the Euphorinae, one of the most difficult and species-rich of the subfamilies. It is 

characterized by great diversity in host association accompanied by a similarly large 

morphological diversity. While most braconid subfamilies parasitize on a single host insect 

order, euphorines attack many: Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Psocoptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, 

Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera (Chen & van Achterberg 1997, Huddleston 1980, Shaw 1985). 

Many euphorines also attack adult insects, a trait that is extremely rare among the parasitic 

Hymenoptera. Outside the Euphorinae, adult parasitism is only found in the Aphidiinae and 

Neoneurinae among braconids. The Aphidiinae are entirely restricted to parasitism of aphids 

(Shaw & Huddleston, 1991) and the Neoneurinae attack and develop in the abdomen of adult 

formicine ants (Poinar 2004). Thus, the Euphorinae are unique in attacking a broad range of 

adult insects. 

In recent work (still unpublished), I have used a combined morphological and molecular 

approach to study the systematics of one of the tribes, the Meteorini (by some authors 

recognized as a separate subfamily). About 178 specimens from 43 species have been 

sequenced. Previously, 35 species of the tribe Meteorini were recorded from Sweden. We 

have been able to add at least ten new species and four synonyms that will be presented as 

taxonomical changes. The user friendly key now includes almost 60 species from all of 

Europe with diagnostic descriptions. The phylogenetic analysis also revealed at several 

cryptic species and an interesting relation amongst the Meteorini. Especially the genera Zele 

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seems to be included within the genera Meteorus rendering it paraphyletic. The host 

preference also shows interesting evolutionary steps. 

____________________________________ 

Phylogeny and DNA barcoding of inquiline oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) of 

the Western Palaearctic 

Graham N. Stone 1* , George Melika 2 , Zoltán Ács 2 , Richard Challis 1,3 , Péter Bihari 4 , Mark Blaxter 1 , 

Alexander Hayward 1,5 , György Csóka 6 , Zsolt Pénzes 4,7 , Juli Pujade-Villar 8 , José-Luis Nieves-Aldrey 9 

& Karsten Schönrogge 10 

1 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, The King’s Buildings, 

West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK; graham.stone@ed.ac.uk 

2 Pest Diagnostic Laboratory, Plant Protection and Soil Conservation Service of County Vas, Ambrozy setany 2, 

Tanakajd 9762, Hungary 

3 Department of Biology (Area 11), University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5YW, UK; rjc509@york.ac.uk 

4 Biological Research Centre of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics, Temesvári krt 62, 

Szeged, 6723 Hungary 

5 Oxford University Department of Zoology, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS UK; 

alexander.hayward@zoo.ox.ac.uk 

6 Hungarian Forest Research Institute, Mátrafüred Research Station, 3232 Mátrafüred, Hungary; 

csokagy@erti.hu 

7 University of Szeged, Department of Ecology, Szeged, Hungray; penzes@bio.u-szeged.hu 

8 Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Biologia, Departament de Biologia Animal, Avda. Diagonal 645, E- 

08028 Barcelona, Spain; pujade@porthos.bio.ub.es 

9 Dept. de Biodiversidad, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 

Madrid, Spain; aldrey@mncn.csic.es 

10 Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, CEH Wallingford, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Wallingford, OX10 

8BB, UK; ksc@ceh.ac.uk 

We examine phylogenetic relationships within the Synergus complex of herbivorous inquiline 

gallwasps (Hymenoptera; Cynipidae; Synergini) associated with cynipid host galls on oak, a 

biologically diverse group whose genus-level morphological taxonomy has long been 

considered stable but whose species level taxonomy is problematic. We incorporate data for 

over 80% of recognised Western Palaearctic species in 5 morphology-based genera 

(Ceroptres, Saphonecrus, Synergus, Synophrus, Ufo), comprising sequence for two 

mitochondrial loci (coxI, cytb) and one nuclear locus (28S D2). In particular, we assess the 

evidence for monophyly of two long-established, morphology-defined sections within the 

genus Synergus that differ in a range of biological traits. To aid analyses of ecological 

interactions within oak cynipid communities, we also consider the utility of cytochrome 

oxidase I (coxI) DNA barcodes in the oak inquilines. In this assessment, we do not assume 

that species are delineated at a single threshold value of sequence divergence for a single 

gene, but examine concordance in the composition of molecular operational Taxonomic units 

(MOTUs) across a range of sequence divergences in each gene and across genes. We also 

assess the impact of sampling effort on MOTU stability. 

Phylogenetic reconstructions for all three loci support monophyly for Synergus and 

Synophrus, but reject monophyly for Saphonecrus and for the two sections within Synergus. 

The suites of traits associated with the two sections of the genus Synergus are thus 

homoplasious. All three loci also reject monophyly for three Synergus species (S. hayneanus, 

S. pallipes, S. umbraculus). Sequences for each locus identify robust MOTUs that are largely 

concordant across loci for a range of cut-off values. Though many MOTU’s correspond to 

recognised Linnean species, there is significant, multigene disagreement between groupings 

supported by morphology and sequence data, with both allocation of different morphospecies 

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to the same MOTU and allocation of the same morphospecies to multiple MOTUs, regardless 

of cutoff value. Our results imply that while DNA barcoding has considerable utility within 

this group, morphology-based identification needs major revision at both genus and species 

levels. Further, lifehistory traits currently attributed to single morphospecies probably 

confound attributes of multiple lineages. Revealing patterns of character state evolution in 

Synergus requires collection of new host association and life history data explicitly linked to 

DNA barcode data for the specimens concerned. 

____________________________________ 

Molecular evolution of the subfamily Telenominae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) 

Charuwat Taekul 1 *, Norman F. Johnson 2 & Alejandro A. Valerio 3 

1 Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA; 

taekul.1@osu.edu 


johnson.2@osu.edu 


avalerio_13@hotmail.com 

The subfamily Telenominae is a cosmopolitan taxon with more than 870 described species. 

All telenomines are egg parasitoids of insects and are considered to be the most important 

group within the superfamily Platygastroidea in biological control for agriculture. A 

preliminary phylogenetic reconstruction was performed examining 6 genera of telenomines, 

including 3 species groups of the genus Trissolcus and 8 species groups within the genus 

Telenomus. The total number of in group taxa is more than 70 species from several localities 

around the world. Phylogenetic reconstruction was performed using Maximum Parsimony, 

Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian approaches, all of which were executed using three 

molecular markers: the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and the 28S and 18S rRNA. The 

monophyly of the subfamily and its primary constituent genera and species groups are tested. 

The results set the stage for more in-depth analysis of these taxa; the formal classification will 

require significant revision. This work is part of the ongoing Platygastroidea Planetary 

Biodiversity Inventory. 

____________________________________ 

Oviposition behaviour and infanticide by Zatypota albicoxa (Hymenoptera, 

Ichneumonidae), an ectoparasitoid of a theridiid house spider 

Keizo Takasuka¹* & Rikio Matsumoto 2 

¹ Entomological Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8566, Japan; 

ichneumonidae@gmail.com 

2 Osaka Museum of Natural History, Osaka, Japan 

Zatypota albicoxa (Walker) of the Polysphincta-group (Pimplinae, Ephialtini) is a koinobiont 

ectoparasitoid of a common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Koch) (Araneae, 

Theridiidae) in Japan. The web of P. tepidariorum, called an irregular, three dimensional web, 

is composed of a non-sticky frame threads and more or less vertical gumfoot threads bearing 

tiny sticky masses near the distal end. Preys of the spider such as ants are entangled with the 

sticky mass when passing under the web and lifted up by the spider. 

The female wasp has evolved two modes of oviposition behaviour as an adaptation to the host 

spider hidden in such complex webs. In one, the wasp hangs on one of the vertical gumfoot 

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threads between a host spider and gumfoot, pulling the thread with its fore leg until the spider 

lifts it up or hangs motionlessly on the mid height of the web until the spider approaches 

(ambush-style). In the other mode, the wasp climbs the frame threads to gain access to the 

host spider directly (climbing-style). One of the wasps exhibiting ambush style under 

laboratory conditions, lay on back on the floor and grasped one of the vertical gumfoot 

threads with her legs touching the sticky mass directly. Any strategies succeed in paralyzation 

of the spider but the female wasps do not flutter inside the irregular, three dimensional webs. 

As soon as paralyzation, the wasp rubbed the spider body with its ovipositor and tip of 

metasoma repeatedly for about ten minutes and finally laid an egg at the base of spider’s 

abdomen. Throughout this process, the wasp remained hanging from the web by its hind tarsal 

claws and grasped the spider’s abdomen with its fore and mid legs. The paralyzed spider 

recovered about ten minutes after oviposition and went back to initial position. As female 

wasps emerged from larger hosts and male wasps emerged from smaller ones, the ovipositing 

wasp apparently assesses the size of the spider prior to oviposition and chooses whether to lay 

a fertilized or an unfertilized egg. If paralyzed spider bore a previously attached larva or egg 

of the wasp, the female wasp always removed them from the body of spider by means of 

rubbing behaviour with its ovipositor, but the wasp did not kill them. Removal behaviour has 

evolved to remove the saddle so as to remove the larva because all larvae were removed by 

the ‘saddle’ attached to the ventral surface of the body, which plays a role in external 

attachment. The wasp has no way to discriminate her own progeny because she removed any 

pre-existing eggs, regardless of whether they were her own or others'. It is more time 

consuming for the female to remove medium second instar or large penultimate instar larvae 

than eggs because of the labor in unfastening the saddle. Removal of all previous occupants 

suggests that infanticide would be always advantageous, no matter how the costs to Z. 

albicoxa. 

____________________________________ 

Phylogeny and taxonomic status of the Paridris complex 

Elijah Talamas 1 *, Lubomir Masner 2 & Norman F. Johnson 3 


talamas.1@osu.edu 

2 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6, Canada; 

lmasner@gmail.com 

3 Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, 

Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA; johnson.2@osu.edu 

Paridris is a cosmopolitan genus of cricket egg parasitoids; its morphology indicates close 

relationship with three other genera, Tuora (Eastern Palearctic), Trichoteleia (Malagasy 

region), and Neoparidris (Australia). Trichoteleia and Tuora are revised at the species level, 

resulting in an order of magnitude increase of species diversity. The concepts of all four 

genera are examined and updated in the context of a phylogenetic analysis of morphological 

and molecular data. 

____________________________________ 

Gallwasp diversity of Taiwan: testing the Asian Origin hypothesis for the Cynipini 

(Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) 

Chang-Ti Tang 1 *, Man-Miao Yang 1 , George Melika 2 , James A. Nicholls 3 & Graham N. Stone 3 

1 National Chung-Hsing University, Kuo Kuang Rd. 250, Taichung 40227, Taiwan; 

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cynipidsman@gmail.com (for Chang-Ti Tang); mmyang@nchu.edu.tw (for Man-Miao Yang) 

2 Pest Diagnostic Laboratory, Plant Protection and Soil Conservation Directorate of County Vas, Ambrozy 

setany 2, 9762 Tanakajd, Hungary; melikageorge@gmail.com 

3 Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, The King’s 

Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK; james.nicholls@ed.ac.uk; Graham.stone@ed.ac.uk 

Of the approximately 1400 known gallwasp species, the greatest richness (around 1000 

species in 30 genera worldwide) is found in the monophyletic tribe Cynipini, which induce 

galls on oaks (Quercus L.) [mainly of the subgenus Quercus] and related Fagaceae (Csóka et 

al. 2005). The cynipid gallwasp fauna of the Eastern Palaearctic and Oriental region is poorly 

known: only 34 valid species are recognised from the Eastern Palaearctic, mostly from Japan 

and the Russian Far East (Abe et al. 2007), and only few oak gallwasp species have yet been 

described or mentioned as “cynipid gallwasp” for the Oriental region. However, a hypothesis 

suggested that the Eastern Asia should be the cradle for origin of oak gallwasps due to the 

evidence on phylogeny of gallwasps, the diversity and potential hosts in Eastern Asia, and 

recently suggested diversifying center of oaks in Asia (Stone et al. 2009). Taiwan located at 

the southeast corner of Asia, belonging to Oriental region, which is highly rich in the flora of 

Fagaceae. The family Fagaceae in subtropical Asia and Malesia represented by 4 genera 

which serve as hosts for oak gallwasps (Cynipini): Castanopsis (134 species; 8 species in 

Taiwan); Lithocarpus (=Pasania (Miq.) Oerst., usually united with Lithocarpus but in Asia 

remains accepted in some quarters where Lithocarpus s.l. is considered too heterogenous) 

(325 species; 15 species in Taiwan); Quercus L. subgenus Cyclobalanopsis (about 60 species; 

13 species in Taiwan) and a moderate number of species from Quercus subgenus Quercus 

which are represented in Taiwan by 10 species (Govaerts & Frodin 1998; Lu et al. 2006). To 

date, eleven gall morphotypes attributed to cynipids have been described from Taiwan (Yang 

& Tung 1998), though none of the gall inducers have been described. Of these gall types, 

three are associated with Quercus variabilis Blume, though no associations have previously 

been recorded for Quercus dentata Thunb.; other 7 morphotypes were found on 

Cyclobalanopsis and one on Lithocarpus (=Pasania) (Yang et al. 2000). 

Our survey so far explored a rich fauna of gallwasps. Galls on subgenera Quercus (Cerris and 

Quercus s.s. sections) and Cyclobalanopsis of Quercus were widely collected as well as on 

related host genera of Fagaceae, e.g. Castanopsis (Don) Spach and Lithocarpus (=Pasania). 

Up to date, we found: 12 types of unknown cynipid stem swelling-like galls on Quercus 

variabilis (Cerris section oaks), Q. glauca and Q. globosa (Cyclobalanopsis subgenus oaks), 

Castanopsis carlesii, and Lithocarpus konishii; 7 types of bud galls on Q. variabilis, Q. 

glauca, Q. pachyloma, L. konishii and L. glabra; 12 types of unknown leaf-galls on Q. 

variabilis, Q. morii, L. glabra, L. hancei, L. konishii, L. amygdalifolius; 5 types of catkin galls 

on L. konishii and L. glabra and one type of acorn gall on Q. variabilis. 

Till now only three Eastern Palaearctic species were found on Taiwan, all on Q. variabilis 

(Cerris section oaks): Cerroneuroterus vonkuenburgi (Dettmer), Trichagalma acutissimae 

(Monzen) [earlier known from Japan only] and recently a new species, Trichagalma 

formosana Tang et Melika, was described from Taiwan, however, as an undescribed species 

was known earlier from Japan also (Melika et al. 2010). The first Oriental Andricus species, 

Andricus formosana Tang & Melika, known to induce multilocular leaf galls on Q. dentata, 

was also recently described from Taiwan (Tang et al. 2009). 

Two new species of Neuroterus (as defined in Melika et al. 2010) recently found in Taiwan 

(in press) is of particular interest, since unlike all western palaearctic and nearctic Neuroterus, 

they induce galls not on section Quercus oaks but on Q. hypophaea (subgenus 

Cyclobalanopsis of Quercus), and on L. konishii, a plesiomorphic relative of Quercus within 

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the Fagaceae (Manos et al. 2001). This species may be an early offshoot in the diversification 

of Cynipini among oak sections, or another of the very rare examples of gallwasp switches 

between major hostplant lineages. The same possible alternatives apply to other recently 

discovered Taiwanese gallwasps, including a Dryocosmus galling Castanopsis carlesii (in 

press), and a Plagiotrochus galling Q. glauca (subgenus Cyclobalanopsis) (in press). 

Pleisiomorphic traits in the latter two species tentatively support their placement into 

Dryocosmus and Plagiotrochus, which also supports the Asian Origin hypothesis for the 

Cynipini. 

Our work attempts to associate the alternate generations of gallwasps and to clarify the 

species diversity of Taiwanese cynipid fauna. Establishment of thorough fauna data will 

permit us further test the hypothesis on the Asian origin of gallwasps. 

____________________________________ 

Diversity of egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae, Trichogrammatidae, and 

Aphelinidae) of Proconiini sharpshooter leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: 

Cicadellinae) in the New World and Oceania: 

recent discoveries and a glimpse into future research 

Serguei V. Triapitsyn 

Entomology Research Museum, Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, 

CA, 92521, USA; serguei.triapitsyn@ucr.edu 

In the New World tropics and subtropics, an amazing diversity within the subgenus 

Cosmocomoidea of the fairyfly genus Gonatocerus (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), most species 

of which are still undescribed, is attributed to the diversity and abundance of their hosts – 

leafhoppers from the tribes Proconiini (mostly) and Cicadellini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: 

Cicadellinae), which are commonly known as sharpshooters. The establishment of the glassywinged 

sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar), in California, USA, in 1990s 

prompted active research efforts aimed at classical and neoclassical biological control of this 

vector of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa using hymenopterous egg parasitoids. Proconiini is 

a New World group that includes mostly large, xylem-sucking leafhoppers that lay eggs in 

clusters and often cover them with brochosomes. Recently, the glassy-winged sharpshooter 

also established in parts of Oceania (the Hawaiian Islands, French Polynesia, and Easter 

Island), so egg parasitoids were identified from there as well (both native and intentionally or 

unintentionally introduced). 

Three main groups of chalcidoid egg parasitoids of Proconiini are identified: 1) Mymaridae, 

primarily numerous members of the ater species group of Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) (45 

described and perhaps more than 200 undescribed species, some of which may also attack 

eggs of Cicadellini), and also several members (most quite rare) of Acmopolynema (1 

species), Anagrus (3 species), Palaeoneura (1 species), and Polynema (subgenus Doriclytus) 

(several undescribed species); 2) Trichogrammatidae: several species in the genera Burksiella, 

Ittys, Oligosita, Paracentrobia, Pseudoligosita, Ufens, and Zagella; and 3) Aphelinidae (3 

undetermined, likely undescribed, species of Centrodora, extremely rare except for one 

species in Tahiti Island, French Polynesia). Taxonomic problems related to identification of 

these difficult groups are discussed, and their known host associations are indicated. Species 

composition of the egg parasitoids of Proconiini is different in various habitats: Mymaridae 

prefer humid areas but occur everywhere there are hosts, are dominant on trees and shrubs, 

rarely are host (insect or plant) specific, and their females are relatively fast searchers; 

Trichogrammatidae are more abundant in dry, semi-desert or desert areas, apparently are 

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more host (especially plant) specific, are more common on grasses, and their females are slow 

searchers. Members of Gonatocerus (Cosmocomoidea) are by far the most common egg 

parasitoids of Proconiini; they are mostly solitary (one wasp per host egg) except for one 

Nearctic species, G. (Cosmocomoidea) fasciatus, which is a gregarious parasitoid (several 

wasps per host egg). Known trichogrammatid egg parasitoids of Proconiini are all gregarious. 

Before the 1990s, only one publication existed that mentioned egg parasitoids of the 

sharpshooter leafhoppers (in Georgia, USA); from 1996 till present, the author contributed to 

1 monograph, 27 refereed articles in scientific journals, and 37 other publications on the egg 

parasitoids of sharpshooters in the New World and Oceania. Possible directions of the future 

research are discussed. 

____________________________________ 

Remediation and curation of the University of California, Riverside collections of 

Aphelinidae and Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) on slides: 

problems and solutions 

Serguei V. Triapitsyn 



Two unprecedented projects at the Entomology Research Museum, University of California, 

Riverside (UCRC) have dealt with remounting of almost 20,000 specimens on slides from 

water-soluble solutions in a permanent mountant (Canada balsam), in two groups that are 

most important for biocontrol: Aphelinidae and Encyrtidae. Most of the specimens have 

valuable host data and are vouchers of past biocontrol projects, more than 50% had been 

poorly mounted in Hoyer’s and were in various stages of decay, including numerous type 

specimens. Often several specimens or taxa were mounted on the same slide; other problems 

included poor labeling, old names, peeled off labels, etc. UCRC has arguably the largest 

collection of Chalcidoidea on slides in the world, including ca. 40,000 slides of 

Trichogrammatidae, ca. 25,000 slides of Aphelinidae, ca. 10,000 slides of Encyrtidae, and ca. 

10,000 slides of Mymaridae. In the course of the previous project (May 1998 - April 2002), 

sponsored by NSF grant DBI-9728626, the world’s largest collection of Aphytis (Aphelinidae) 

was curated: 7,292 specimens were remounted from Hoyer’s in Canada balsam, labeled, and 

databased, including 309 primary types of 51 nominal species, 2,473 secondary types, and 

4,626 non-type specimens of at least 70 species from more than 50 different countries. A 

catalog of the type material of Aphytis in UCRC was published. 

The UCRC has ca. 60,000 specimens of Aphelinidae (of which ca. 35,000 specimens are 

species of Aphytis) and, besides the specimens mounted on slides, ca. 50,000 dry-mounted 

Encyrtidae (stored in 100 museum drawers). More than 20,000 non-Aphytis specimens of 

Aphelinidae were mounted in a temporary, water-soluble medium (Hoyer's) on 5,877 slides. 

More than 50% of these (3,874 slides) were in various stages of decay, of these the majority 

being completely or partially dry. Many specimens, including some types, have already been 

damaged. Material was mounted with an average of at least 5 specimens per slide. The scope 

of the current (5/1/2008 – 4/30/2011) project, sponsored by NSF grant DBI-0745496, 

involves remediation of at least 11,622 specimens (approximately 4,000 per year); the 

specimens are remounted individually, properly labeled, and databased (including 

georeferencing when possible, only ca. 83% of the slides have locality data). The total number 

of Aphelinidae other than Encarsia on slides in Hoyer’s that needed immediate remediation 

was 2,672, among them represented are 13 genera and at least 70 determined species. In 

addition, there are 5,023 slides of Encarsia in Hoyer’s (1,565 of them dry) from more than 50 

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countries. The total number of Encyrtidae slides in Hoyer’s was 1,299 (1,202 of them, or 

about 90%, were completely dry); represented are 49 genera. 

A database of the remounted specimens is now partially available online via GBIF and 

Discover Life websites. Such projects require skilled, motivated personnel and good funding 

– they are expensive but well worth the effort. 

____________________________________ 

The maritime parasitoid wasp Echthrodesis lamorali Masner (Hymenoptera, 

Platygastridae, Scelioninae) 

Simon van Noort1*, Lubomir Masner2, Ovidiu A. Popovici3, Charuwat Taekul 4 , Norman F. Johnson 4 

& Andrew D. Austin 5 

1 Division of Natural History, Iziko South African Museum, PO Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa & 

Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701; svannoort@iziko.org.za 

2 Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History & Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. 

Research Branch. K.W. Neatby Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OC6, Canada; lmasner@gmail.com 

3 Facultatea de Biologie, Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza IASI, Bulevardul Carol I, Nr.11, 700506, IASI, 

Romania; popovici_alin_ovidiu@yahoo.com 


johnson.2@osu.edu 

5 Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The 

University of Adelaide, 5005, Australia; andy.austin@adelaide.edu.au 

The biology and behavior of Echthrodesis lamorali Masner, an endemic South African egg 

parasitoid of spiders adapted to a life in the marine environment is recorded for the first time. 

Morphological evidence supports taxonomic affinities of Echthrodesis to Opisthacantha, 

another aquatic adapted genus. Similarities to Baeini and Embidobiinae appear to be a result 

of convergent morphological adaptation. A phylogeny based on 28S, 18S and C01 gene 

sequences is presented. Images of behavior and of both sexes of the adult wasp are provided. 

Biological adaptation of this parasitoid wasp to a marine environment is discussed. 

____________________________________ 

Hymenoptera of the Afrotropical region: diversity assessment and identification guide 

proposal 

Simon van Noort 1 

*, Connal Eardley 2 

& Hamish Robertson 1 

1 Division of Natural History, Iziko South African Museum, PO Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa & 

Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701; svannoort@iziko.org.za; 

hrobertson@iziko.org.za 

2 Agricultural Research Council, Private Bag X134, Queenswood, 0121, Pretoria, South Africa; 

EardleyC@arc.agric.za 

Family, generic and species richness of Afrotropical Hymenoptera is assessed and presented 

in a global context based on data synthesized for the web site www.waspweb.org. A concept 

for producing an identification guide to all genera of Afrotropical Hymenoptera in an 

electronic format, using interactive online keys, as well as in a printed version is presented. 

____________________________________ 

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Presenting an on-going PhD project: aspects to consider when estimating the diversity of 

neotropical Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) 

Anu Veijalainen 1 *, Terry L. Erwin 2 , Ilari E. Sääksjärvi 3 , Niklas Wahlberg 4 , Gavin Broad 5 , 

Isrrael Gómez 6 & John T. Longino 7 

1 University of Turku, Turku, Finland; anu.veijalainen@utu.fi 

2 National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA; erwint@si.edu 

3 University of Turku, Turku, Finland; ilari.saaksjarvi@utu.fi 

4 University of Turku, Turku, Finland; niklas.wahlberg@utu.fi 

5 Natural History Museum, London, UK; g.broad@nhm.ac.uk 

6 Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima, Peru, and University of Turku, Turku, Finland; 

isrrael.gomez@yahoo.com 

7 Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, USA; longinoj@evergreen.edu 

To get an in-depth picture of terrestrial community ecology, one can not ignore the 

biologically diverse and distinctive insect parasitoids. The parasitoid family Ichneumonidae 

(Hymenoptera) is possibly the largest animal family on earth, yet it is often regarded as 

having an anomalous diversity gradient (i.e. species richness decreases from temperate 

regions towards the tropics). Adequate data to justify this assumption, however, are badly 

lacking, particularly from Amazonia. Further, recent findings suggest that Ichneumonidae 

may actually be more diverse in the Neotropics – and especially in Amazonia – than 

previously imagined. 

Here, I present my on-going PhD project that concentrates on a number of factors that need to 

be considered when estimating the diversity of Neotropical Ichneumonidae: canopy vs. 

ground-level fauna, cryptic species (DNA barcoding), beta diversity (geographical distance 

and local forest types), flight phenology, elevation, and bioindicators. The large data set that I 

am currently studying with my supervisors and collaborators consists of samples from 

northern, northeastern and southern Peru, eastern Ecuador, and Guatemala. In addition to 

presenting an overall outlook of the project, I report the subfamily composition of each of the 

sites and give some preliminary results on our studies. 

____________________________________ 

Past and present diversity and distribution in the parasitic wasp family Megalyridae 

Lars Vilhelmsen 1 *, Vincent Perrichot 2 & Scott R. Shaw 3 

1 Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen, 

Denmark; LBVilhelmsen@snm.ku.dk 

2 Université Rennes 1, UMR CNRS 6118 Géosciences, campus de Beaulieu bât. 15, 263 avenue du Général 

Leclerc, 35042 Rennes cedex, France 

3 U.W. Insect Museum, Department of Renewable Resources (3354), University of Wyoming, 1000 East 

University Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA 

The small parasitic wasp family Megalyridae comprises approx. 50 described extant species 

predominantly distributed in the southern hemisphere. The family has a substantial fossil 

record extending well back into the Mesozoic. Curiously, all described fossil taxa are 

restricted to the present day Northern hemisphere having no current overlap with the extant 

taxa. Recently, a number of new fossil genera from both the Cretaceous and early Tertiary 

were described in a monographic treatment of extinct Megalyridae (Perrichot 2009). To 

evaluate the status of the newly described fossil taxa and more stringently delimit the family, 

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the phylogenetic relationships of extant and extinct Megalyridae are analysed at the genus 

level. The data set comprises seven outgroup taxa, all eight extant genera and a number of 

extinct taxa that have been associated with Megalyridae. Included are also two genera from 

the Maimetshidae as well as Cretodinapsis; both are Cretaceous taxa whose affinities with the 

Megalyridae are uncertain. Analytical results are unstable because some of the fossil taxa 

have many missing entries, and Megalyridae as a clade are not strongly supported. The most 

stable results are produced when the maimetshid taxa and Cretodinapsis are excluded. When 

included, these taxa frequently fall outside crown group Megalyridae, the maimetshid taxa 

often being the sister of Orthogonalys (Trigonalidae), and Cretodinapsis sometimes being 

retrieved among the outgroup taxa as well. The remaining fossil taxa usually fall in two 

distinct clades inside crown group Megalyridae, one comprising the Cretaceous taxa and the 

other the Eocene taxa. The classification of Megalyridae is revised according to the results of 

our analyses. When comparing past and present distributions of Megalyridae with the results 

of the phylogenetic analyses, it is evident that both extant and extinct genera radiated in the 

Mesozoic, and the family as a whole was much more widespread then. The present day 

distribution is essentially relictual, range contraction since the early Tertiary probably being 

caused by climate deterioration resulting in the contraction of tropical forest ranges 

throughout the Palaearctic. 

____________________________________ 

Species diversity of neotropical tephritid fruit flies and their braconid parasitoids 

Robert A. Wharton 1 *, Marty Condon 2 , Sonja Scheffer 3 , Matthew Lewis 3 

1 Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA; rawbaw2@tamu.edu 

2 Department of Biology, Cornell College, Mount Vernon, IA, USA; mcondon2@gmail.com 

3 Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD, USA; agromyzidsjs@gmail.com 

Plants, phytophagous insects, and their insect parasitoids form complex tritrophic interactions. 

Specialist herbivores, such as many of the fruit-infesting Tephritidae, are ideal groups for 

testing hypotheses about the generation and maintenance of biodiversity via such mechanisms 

as cospeciation, host tracking, and host shifts. These mechanisms may also apply to 

diversification of tephritid parasitoids, but there is limited evidence for this to date. Members 

of the neotropical tephritid genus Blepharoneura attack and develop exclusively in plants of 

the family Cucurbitaceae. Prior work on a clade of Blepharoneura specific to two closely 

related cucurbit genera (Gurania and Psiguria) revealed an extraordinary diversity of 30 

species, only partly explained by host plant and host plant part specificity. Each 

Blepharoneura species develops in a specific part of these dioecious plants: either male 

flowers, female flowers, or seeds. These fly species in turn are attacked by members of at 

least three different lineages of opiine Braconidae: Utetes, Bellopius, and Thiemanastrepha. 

Bellopius includes 11 valid species, only two of which had host-associated data prior to our 

studies. These two have been reared from one or more polyphagous species of tephritid pests 

in the genus Anastrepha. We provide evidence that within the Blepharoneura/Gurania 

cucurbit system, the species of Bellopius diversify as host plant and host plant part specialists 

just as their tephritid hosts do. 

____________________________________ 

Evolution of host use in cryptic species of aphid parasitoids 

James B. Woolley 1* , Keith R. Hopper 2 & John M. Heraty 3 

1 Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA 77843; JimWoolley@tamu.edu 

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2 USDA-ARS-BIIR, Newark, DE, USA 19713; khopper@udel.edu 

3 Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA 92521; john.heraty@ucr.edu 

Parasitic Hymenoptera (parasitoids) are extremely diverse and parasitize a wide variety of 

host species. Differences in ability to use different host species may have provided strong 

selection for specialization, divergence, and thus speciation in parasitoids. We report here on 

the evolution of host specificity in a complex of cryptic species of aphid parasitoids. We 

address these questions: Does the pattern of host use differ among species in this complex? If 

so, when we map host use map onto a molecular phylogeny of the complex, is host use 

phylogenetically conserved, so that speciation is rarely associated with changes in host use, or 

are host use changes associated with cladogenesis, as expected if changes in host use have 

driven speciation? To answer these questions, we measured host use by six species from eight 

populations in the Aphelinus varipes complex (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), mapped their host 

use onto a molecular phylogeny, and tested the relationship between genetic distance and 

distance in pattern of host use. We measured parasitism of seven aphid species in five genera 

and two tribes on four host plant species. The pattern of parasitism of aphid species varied 

greatly among parasitoid species and somewhat between parasitoid populations. For most 

parasitoid species, some aphid species were heavily parasitized and others were parasitized 

either rarely or not at all. Neither host plant species nor taxonomic proximity of aphid species 

delimited which aphids were parasitized. Although sister species of parasitoids showed 

similar parasitism of some aphid species, they showed very different parasitism of other aphid 

species. The differences in host use between these closely related species suggests that 

changes in host use may have sometimes been involved in speciation. In addition, some 

members of the complex appear to be specialists on particular aphid species, while others are 

generalists or at least have a wider host range. Understanding the evolution of host use in 

parasitoids, and the degree to which parasitoid species are specialized in their ability to utilize 

host species, are important in biological control, for example, in predicting the potential 

impact (or non-impact) of introduced species on non-target hosts. 

____________________________________ 

Biology and morphology of immature stages of some species of Eulophidae 

(Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), parasitoids associated with leafminers 

(Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae and Gelechiidae) 

Zoya Yefremova*, Andrey Mishchenko & Ekaterina Yegorenkova 

Department of Zoology, State Pedagogical University, Ulyanovsk, Russia; eulophids@mail.ru 

Objects of research are two ectoparasitoids gregarious Minotetrastichus frontalis (Nees, 1834) 

(Tetrastichinae) and solitary Pnigalio soemius (Walker, 1839) (Eulophinae) and one 

endoparasitoid Chrysocharis laomedon (Walker, 1839) (Entedoninae). Species proved to be a 

larval-pupal parasitoid of Phyllonorycter issikii (Gracillariidae), which is associated with Tilia 

sp. and of Chrysoesthia sexguttella (Gelechiidae), associated with Chenopodium album L. A 

total number of observations were 1170. The fact the eggs of both ectoparsitoids might be laid 

beside host larva was documented for the first time. The biology and morphology of early 

larval instars are described in detail. First instar larva of ectoparasitoid with protuberances on 

II – IV thoracic and VI, VIII, X and XII abdominal and XIII anal segments from both sides 

and with long hairs are described. The larva uses these protuberances with hair for moving in 

the leaf mine and jumps onto the surface of the host. Second instar larva has lost the long hair 

on the protuberances. The larva is passive and can parasitize host larvae of the fourth-fifth 

instar or prepupae. Third instar larva has small protuberances with short trichoid setae that 

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may have a sensory function. The larva is feeding on haemolymph and the soft cuticle of the 

host. Fourth instar larva also has protuberances with trichoid seta. We observed active process 

of hystogenesis at the end of this instar. Pupa of M. frontalis and P. soemius attaches to the 

leaf by filament in mine of host. Four larval instars and three moults in M. frontalis and 

P.soemius was discovered. The total development of gregarious M. frontalis is 11.2 days and 

of solitary P. soemius is 20.6 days. Gregarious parasitism exhibited by brood of larvae of M. 

frontalis (2-5 individuals). We have observed siblicide behavior between third instar larva and 

fourth instar larva of P. soemius. Hyperparasitism was discovered in second instar larva of M. 

frontalis on pre-pupa of Pnigalio sp. inside mine of Ph. issikii. Multiparasitism is also present. 

Solitary endoparasitoid Chrysoharis laomedon has three larval instars and two moults. The 

larva of the first-third instars have segmentation are not clearly discernable visible. The larvae 

feed on the haemolymph. The size of the last instar is 3 times as long as the first instar. Third 

instar larva pupates completely free of host larva. The pupa is without filament and may be 

found beside the remnants of the host. Total development is 20.5 days. Hyperparasitism was 

not observed. 

M. frontalis and C.laomedon are subjected to the same environment inside the mine, with the 

same temperature and humidity. C. laomedon has changed from the typical behaviour of 

endoparasitoids and its larva and pupa develops external, i.e. on the skin of the host larva. 

Developing inside the mine of P. issikii, ectoparsitoids and endoparasitoids have similar 

behaviours but a different strategy of parasitism; the first allow the host to develop, the 

second stop it from developing. The solitary endoparasitism that was discovered during our 

investigation is evolutionarily more primitive than gregarious ectoparasitism and its larval 

stages have a long period of development. 

____________________________________ 

Four years later: the Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology, 

an overview and call for participation 

Matthew J. Yoder 1* , István Mikó 2 , Matthew A. Bertone 3 , Katja Seltmann 4 & Andrew R. Deans 5 

North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA; 

1 diapriid@gmail.com 2 istvan.miko@gmail.com 3 katja_seltmann@ncsu.edu 4 matthew.bertone@gmail.com 

5 andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

The Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology (HAO) is introduced. We overview the core data to be 

collected and integrated into the HAO and the justification for our approach. The existing data 

in the HAO includes over 3500 labels, 1500 ontological classes (tied together with over 1600 

logical relationships), and 950 references. Gaps in the present coverage (e.g. venation) and 

other complex issues (e.g. unifying references to sculpture) are overviewed. The day-to-day 

utility of the HAO, i.e. how our ontological data can be accessed by hymenopteran 

researchers, is discussed. We introduce several new mechanisms, both presently realized and 

planned, by which the hymenopterist community can interact with the HAO, including 

methods for annotating existing data and proposing new additions, integrating the HAO into 

taxonomic publications, and constructing data subsets for personal use. 

____________________________________ 

The Yellow-Legged Hornet Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): a new invader in 

France 

Takuma Yoshida 1,2 *, Quentin Romel 1 , Franck Muller 1 , Adrien Perrard 1 & Claire Villemant 1 

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1 Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR7205 MNHN-CNRS, Paris, France 

2 Systematic Entomology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan; 

takuru@res.agr.hokudai.ac.jp 

The Yellow-Legged Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) is an invasive 

species recently introduced in France. Within a few years, this hornet spread throughout a 

great part of south-west France and became rapidly famous, because of its large nests usually 

located in tree tops as well as its propensity to prey on honeybees in front of hives. 

Since the first record of this species in France in 2004, the invasion is monitored, mainly 

through nest recording. After six years, the hornet appears to be well acclimated to the French 

ecosystems, invading both natural and urbanized environments. 

The Yellow-Legged Asian Hornet that is originally widespread across South-east Asia, from 

Pakistan to China and Indonesia, presents a large range of color variations. The population 

introduced to France belongs to the nigrithorax form, which is distributed from Pakistan to 

South and East China. The most probable hypothesis of its introduction, (through importation 

of bonsais from East China) is being tested using genetic markers. A first predictive model 

using climatic data from the native and invaded areas suggests that V. velutina could 

acclimatize to a large part of Europe as well as various other countries around the world. 

The genetic diversity of the invasive population, the colony development and the predation 

behavior of the hornet are being studied as well as the defense of French honeybees against 

this new enemy. Honeybees, however, are not the only preys of this invader. A diet study 

based on the flesh pellet brought back to the nest by the workers revealed a very wide prey 

spectrum, from social Hymenoptera and flies to dead vertebrate flesh. First results showed 

that honeybee ratio varies among preys according to habitats, reaching about 1/3 in rural areas 

and up to 2/3 in urban areas. The impact of V. velutina on local biodiversity is being 

investigated by evaluating the biomass of preys required to feed a colony. 

Although its presence in France has no significant impact on public health, the Asian hornet 

locally significantly threatens beekeeping. The eradication of the hornet being no longer 

possible, effective and selective trapping methods are being developed in order to protect 

beehives at best. 

____________________________________ 

BracBank – a specimen and taxon-based program to facilitate taxonomic research 

Dicky Yu 1 & Michael J. Sharkey 1* 

University of Kentucky, Department of Entomology, S225 Agricultural Science Center North 

Lexington, KY, 40546-0091, USA; msharkey@uky.edu 

The goals of BracBank are twofold. 1. To make specimen-based data and images available 

through a continuously updated taxonomic frame-work. 2. Use the data to generate 

descriptions, diagnoses, interactive illustrated keys, distribution maps, and nomenclatorial 

summaries; in short all of the elements necessary for revisionary publications. BracBank is 

still in development but many functionalities are now operating and colleagues are invited to 

use it as a platform for their taxonomic research. The system allows individuals anywhere in 

the world to enter and edit information while password protection prevents misuse. The 

taxonomic frame-work is a crucial part of the system, as it removes the need for taxonomic 

editing and prevents spelling errors. All 24,936 braconid names at all taxonomic levels are 

incorporated. 

____________________________________ 

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DNA barcoding the parasitic wasp subfamily Doryctinae (Braconidae) from the 

Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve, Mexico 

Alejandro Zaldívar-Riverón 1* , De Jesús-Bonilla, V.S. 1 , Rodríguez-Pérez, A.C. 1 , Ceccarelli, F.S. 1 , 

Reséndiz-Flores, A. 1 & Smith, M.A. 2 

1 Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D. F., México; 

azaldivar@ibiologia.unam.mx 

2 Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada; 

salex@uoguelph.ca 

The Doryctinae represents one of the largest braconid subfamilies, mostly comprising 

idiobiont ectoparasitoids of xylophagous and bark boring Coleoptera larvae, and containing a 

number of speciose, morphologically heterogeneous genera. Here we show the preliminary 

results of an ongoing DNA barcoding study of the doryctine fauna from the Chamela- 

Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, a region mostly composed of tropical dry forest. 

DNA barcoding sequences from 407 specimens collected during three field trips were 

analysed using the general mixed Yule-coalescent (GMYC) model approach and the single 

threshold optimisation in order to delimit species from DNA sequences alone. Use of the 

above approach resulted in a total of 186 putative species that were assigned to 22 genera, 114 

of which belong to the highly diverse, polyphagous genus Heterospilus. Sequences of the 

D2-D3 domain region of the 28S nuclear rDNA gene were also obtained for all the specimens 

in order to confirm the species boundaries indicated by the mtDNA marker. The results 

obtained helped to clarify cases where the indiscriminate use of highly homoplastic 

morphological characters led to the erection of non-monophyletic genera. This study 

highlights the urgent necessity of carrying out diversity studies with molecular tools in order 

to accelerate the process of species discovery in megadiverse groups of hymenopterans. 

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ABSTRACTS OF POSTERS 

(* = in attendance) 

Population dynamics of alfalfa weevil parasitoids in West Azarbaijan (Iran) 

Esmaeil Alizadeh 1* & Seyed Ebrahim Sadeghi 2 

1 Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center of West Azerbaijan, P.O.Box:365 Urmia, Iran; 

ISM478@yahoo.com 

2 Research Institute of Forest and Ranglands, Tehran, POBox 13185-116, Iran; ebrasadeghi@gmail.com 

Hypera postica Gyll. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) is one of the most important pests in West 

Azarbaijan province of Iran. During 2007-2008 a survey on the population dynamics of 

natural enemies (parasitoids) of H. postica was carried out in two regions, Saadad (Chaldoran) 

and Shoot (Makoo). Hypera postica and other insects were swept weekly in both locations. 

Hundred sweepnet hits/location/sample were done in early morning, taking into account the 

pest behaviour. Collected insects were separated and counted and the density of H. postica 

larvae/sample was evaluated. An aspirator was used to collect adults of H. postica from the 

soil surface. Results showed, that H. postica was observed for the first time, from both, 

Makoo and Chaldoran, by mid-April and by mid-May, respectively. The population peaks of 

H. postica were recorded in Makoo and Chaldoran by mid-May and mid-June, respectively. 

The population density of H. postica in sampled two regions was different and also showed 

that the environmental conditions were better in 2008 than 2007. 

A survey of three important parasitoids, Bathyplectes curculionis Thomson, Bathyplectes 

anurus Thomson andOomyzus (=Tetrasticus) incertus Ratzeburg, showed nearly the same 

population density for all 3 species. The highest and lowest population densities were 

observed for B. anurus and O. incertus, respectively. Population peaks for B. curculionis and 

B. anurus were recorded in Makoo for May 20 th and June 7 th , respectively. In Chaldoran, 

population peaks of B. curculionis and B. anurus were observed on June 20 th and June 7 th . 

The correlation coefficient was calculated between H. postica and B. anurus (R²=0.841). 

Population densities of predators in 2007 and 2008 were similar to those of parasitoids. The 

population density of Coccinella septempunctata was higher than of Chrysoperla carnea, 

both, in each of two years and each of two sampled regions. 

____________________________________ 

Comparing wing shapes of the subspecies Bombus (Thoracobombus) sylvarum 

citrinofasciatus and Bombus (Thoracobombus) sylvarum daghestanicus (Hymenoptera: 

Apidae: Bombus Latreille) using landmark based geometric morphometrics 

Nezahat Pınar Barkan* & A.M. Aytekin 

Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, 06800 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey; 

pinarbarkan@gmail.com 

Color patterns of bumble bees (Bombus (s.l.)) can be either similar or rather variable within 

species. The fact that different individuals within some species may show resemblance with a 

series of other species makes it hard to identify bumble bees according to their coat colors. 

This situation is regarded as a problem in bumble bees as it may lead individuals which look 

almost the same in color to be identified as the same species by mistake. Geometric 

morphometrics techniques are quite useful in analyzing shape differences. It is considered as a 

powerful tool in taxonomical studies in bumble bees by being advantageous compared with 

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other methods. Thoracobombus (s.str.) is a subgenus studied under the genus Bombus and it is 

one of the most diverse subgenus which is characterized by 14 species in Turkey. Bombus 

(Thoracobombus) sylvarum traditionally has two subspecies which are ssp. citrinofasciatus 

and ssp. daghestanicus. While ssp. citrinofasciatus shows distribution in western Turkey, ssp. 

daghestanicus appears both in eastern Turkey and in the southern part of Central Anatolia. 

The fact that these two subspecies are quite isolated from each other in distribution and that 

they show different coat color patterns makes it certain that they are clear subspecies. In this 

study, it was aimed to show if geometric morphometrics could be successful enough to 

distinguish them from each other. Wing shapes of these two subspecies were examined 

together with the other 11 species from the same subgenus using 20 landmarks. Analyses 

were carried out on 133 females and 42 males collected from various localities in Turkey. 

Cartesian coordinates were obtained from the fore wings of the specimens. Procrustes analysis 

was conducted to remove non-shape variation. Then PCA and CVA were conducted to 

examine the distribution of all species. Differences in wing shapes were shown on 

deformation grids. Mean values of all the specimens were calculated and SAHN clustering 

was performed to obtain dissimilarity trees. According to the results, these two subspecies 

were found to be significantly different from each other. Their deformation grids showed 

almost no deformation indicating that these two subspecies are similar according to their wing 

shapes. 

____________________________________ 

Aligning insect anatomy ontologies: identifying congruence between Hymenoptera and 

Diptera 

Matthew A. Bertone 1* , István Mikó 2 , Matthew J. Yoder 3 , Katja Seltmann 4 & Andrew R. Deans 5 


1 matthew.bertone@gmail.com 2 istvan.miko@gmail.com 3 diapriid@gmail.com 4 katja_seltmann@ncsu.edu 

5 andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

Ontologies represent the formalized terminology (lexicon) of a domain of interest, and the 

logical relationships between terms (e.g., wing is_a appendage; ocellus part_of head). While 

there exist many types of ontologies, anatomy ontologies are becoming an important resource 

for studying phenotypic variation and genetic influences on morphology within a group of 

organisms. Thus far, insect anatomy ontologies have only been developed for Diptera, 

specifically the model organism genus Drosophila and the family Culicidae (mosquitoes). 

The Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology (HAO) is a burgeoning insect ontology aimed at 

describing/relating the morphology of the hyper-diverse order Hymenoptera. Here we 

describe and discuss the ontological similarities (exact and inferred) between the HAO, FBbt 

(Drosophila gross anatomy ontology) and MA (mosquito adult gross anatomy ontology). We 

calculate these matches using existing ontology alignment software and novel matching tools, 

both of which are examined for their utility. Our results are persisted in the HAO database as 

a set of cross references which will inform future comparisons between taxa. We also 

compare major areas of incongruence between current insect anatomy ontologies and possible 

explanations for these disparities. 

____________________________________ 

A new mechanical modification of an insect manipulator 

Peter S. Boyadzhiev*, Atanas D. Donev & Tsanko S. Gechev 

Department of Zoology, University of Plovdiv “P. Hilendarski”, Plovdiv 4000, Bulgaria; 

boyadz@uni-plovdiv.bg; atdonev@yahoo.com; tsangech@uni-plovdiv.bg 

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An improved design of stereomicroscope manipulator for observation of pinned or mounted 

insects is presented. The device allows movement of the observed object around three 

perpendicular axes in the field of vision at all magnifications of the stereomicroscope. The 

main improvement of this new modification is positioning of the guiding knobs for rotating 

around two axes next to each other, allowing faster and easier manipulation of the studied 

object. The device enables easily reaching a precession deviation in the intersection point of 

axes up to 0.5 mm in the process of assembling. 

____________________________________ 

Bizzare wasps on the island New Caledonia – a revision of the genus Arpactophilus 

(Hymenoptera: Apoidea) 

Laura Breitkreuz * & Michael Ohl 


Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany; 

laura.breitkreuz@mfn-berlin.de; michael.ohl@mfn-berlin.de 

The genus Arpactophilus belongs in the Pemphredonini within the digger wasps 

(Hymenoptera: Apoidea) and occurs exclusively in the Australasian region. It contains 43 

described species and is morphologically highly diverse, which prompted Arnold Menke to 

speak of an ‘evolutionary explosion’ of Arpactophilus in that area. In the present project, I 

revised Arpactophilus from New Caledonia, where 17 species were currently known. I 

discovered 24 undescribed species, which brings the total number of Arpactophilus on New 

Caledonia to 41. Each species is diagnosed and described in detail. A remarkable new 

character is that in contrast to the majority of digger wasps, apparently including Australian 

species of Arpactophilus, the males of the New Caledonian Arpactophilus have 12 instead of 

13 antennomeres. 

____________________________________ 

Body weight change during the development of solitary wasp Symmorphus allobrogus 

(Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) 

Anna Budrien¹*, Žaneta Nevronyt¹ & Eduardas Budrys¹ , ² 

¹ Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, Vilnius LT-08412, Lithuania; ebudrys@ekoi.lt 

² Dept. of Zoology of Vilnius University, M.K.iurlionio 21/27, Vilnius LT-03101, Lithuania 

We studied the change of body weight of eumenine wasp Symmorphus allobrogus during the 

development from egg to imago. 

The brood cells for study were obtained using reed trap-nests in three localities of Lithuania in 

2000-2006. Newly built nests were taken from the trap-nests every 7-14 days and dissected. 

We weighed the provision in fresh brood cells and measured weight and head width of wasp 

larva in older ones. A part of the developing wasp larvae was weighed and measured 

repeatedly every second day until the start of cocoon formation or defecation. Prepupae were 

reactivated in refrigerator at +4°C. We weighed the prepupae before and after reactivation, as 

well as pupae and freshly emerged imagos. 

Larval development of S. allobrogus included 5 instars; the growth of body weight was 

exponential. The larvae of the 3 rd , 4 th and 5 th instars could be reliably distinguished by their 

head width. Male larvae of all instars had significantly smaller average head width than 

female larvae. 

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On average, the female cells were provisioned with 27% larger amount of prey than male 

cells. However, the mean weight of fullgrown female larva was 37% larger than that of male 

larva. The relationship between larval body weight and weight increment per day was 

significantly different (Chow test), as well: female larvae of a certain weight had larger 

weight increment per day than male larvae. Thus, female larvae of S. allobrogus were 

growing faster and gaining more body weight per weight unit of consumed provision than 

male larvae. 

Relative loss of body weight of larva during spinning the cocoon and defecation was 

significantly higher in male than in female. In contrast, the relative loss of body weight during 

reactivation was significantly higher in prepupae of females than in males. 

____________________________________ 

Dependence of brood cell length on nesting cavity width in xylicolous solitary wasps of 

genera Ancistrocerus and Symmorphus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) 

Eduardas Budrys¹ , ²*, Anna Budrien¹ & Žaneta Nevronyt¹ 



The application of trap-nests for the studies of cavity-nesting Hymenoptera eventually implies 

a need for immediate nest identification using its structure. Possible nest characters that may 

be potentially useful for the separation of closely related species are body size-dependent 

metrical parameters of their brood cells. 

We studied the dependence of brood cell length on nesting cavity width in ten cavity-nesting 

predatory wasp species. Five alternative hypotheses were erected and tested: a wasp adjusts 

the length of a brood cell depending on the width of the nesting cavity, (1) maintaining the 

volume of the cell more or less constant, or (2) maintaining the internal surface of the cell 

more or less constant, or (3) maintaining the area of the longitudinal section of the cell 

(product of its length and diameter) more or less constant, or (4) maintaining the perimeter of 

the longitudinal section of the cell (or the sum of its width and length) more or less constant; 

or (5) length of a brood cell is defined by the body length of wasp, and it does not depend on 

diameter of nesting cavity. We calculated the derived parameters of brood cells needed for 

testing the hypotheses and, applying correlation and linear regression, assessed the degree of 

fit of the actual data to the hypothesized dependences. 

The results demonstrate that most (but not all) cavity-nesting wasp species have an adaptable 

nesting behavior: they build shorter brood cells in wider cavities. Out of ten studied species, 

only two wasps (Symmorphus crassicornis and S. gracilis) seem to build brood cells of 

random length for their brood of both sexes in nesting cavities of any suitable diameter. In the 

other eight species, the degree of such adaptability (quantified as a cell length – cavity width 

regression coefficient b) was statistically significant at least for the brood of one of sexes. The 

studied wasps seem to estimate and keep constant the sum or the product of length and width 

of a brood cell rather than its volume. This statement is supported by 13 out of 20 analyzed 

datasets, or by 8 out of 10 studied wasp species whose nest building behavior supports the 

hypotheses (3) or (4). In 3 studied wasp species, the datasets of cells with brood of different 

sex demonstrated dependences of cell length on nesting cavity width supporting different 

hypotheses. We conclude that metrical differences among brood cells of related cavity-nesting 

species, if present, are more likely to be found in the relation between their length and width 

than in their volume. 

____________________________________ 

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Assessment of anthropogenic impact at landscape scale using trap-nesting wasp and bee 

community in Europe 

Eduardas Budrys¹ , ²* & Anna Budrien¹ 



The method of trap-nests for solitary Hymenoptera is more and more often used for 

assessment of state and changes in semi-natural and agricultural habitats. The authors of this 

project applied trap-nests for cavity-nesting bees and wasps placed on tree trunks and old 

buildings in 13 countries of Europe using possibilities of field site network of the EU FP6 

project ALARM. The goal of the study was comparison of species composition of the trapnesting 

Hymenoptera communities in semi-natural and agricultural landscapes and 

preliminary assessment of tolerance of these wasp and bee species to the anthropogenic 

impact at landscape level. 

Results of the study demonstrate that there are no significant differences between the seminatural 

and agricultural landscape in the abundance and species diversity of the communities 

of synanthropic cavity-nesting Hymenoptera occupying trap-nests placed on buildings. In 

contrast, the communities of the cavity-nesting Hymenoptera occupying trap-nests placed on 

tree trunks demonstrated significant differences between semi-natural and agricultural 

landscape. For instance, abundance of cavity-nesting Pompilidae and Crabronidae was 

significantly higher in semi-natural landscape than in agricultural one. Share of the nest cells 

with inquilines and parasitoids and the number of natural enemy species per host species in a 

trap-nest were significantly higher in semi-natural landscape, that is, the higher trophic ranks 

of the trap-nesting community were more abundant and diverse in the semi-natural landscape, 

in comparison to the agricultural landscape. 

Comparing abundance of trap-nesting wasp and bee species in two landscape types, we found 

that some species (e.g. Dipogon subintermedius, Trypoxylon figulus, Rhopalum clavipes etc.) 

are significantly more often found in semi-natural landscape. On the other hand, a set of 

species was significantly more abundant in the agricultural landscape with dominating early 

succession stage habitats (e.g. Ancistrocerus gazella, Symmorphus gracilis, Megachile 

centuncularis etc.). We propose a preliminary “landscape naturalness index”, based on the 

ratio of the number of trap-nesting species related to semi-natural landscape to the number of 

those related to agricultural landscape, for further testing and elaboration. 

____________________________________ 

Hymenoptera parasitoids of immature stages of Geometridae (Lepidoptera), associated 

with plants of a sub-native forest in the state of São Paulo, Brazil 

Manoel Martins Dias Filho*, Mariana Geraldo, Angélica Maria Penteado-Dias & 

Andrés Fábian Herrera Flórez 

Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; manoelmd@ufscar.br 

Larvae of Geometridae (Lepidoptera) were obtained from native understorey forest, 

interspersed with pine, on the campus of the Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, 

Brazil. Larvae were collected weekly by beating the vegetation on entomological umbrella, 

from March/2007 to May/2008 and April/2009 to April/2010. In the laboratory the larvae 

were kept in translucent plastic containers of 250 or 500 ml and fed with leaves of their 

respective host plants. The pupal stage and the emergence of adult moths or parasitoids 

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occurred in the same container where the larvae were kept. Head capsules of larvae of 

Geometridae, parasitized larvae and cocoons of parasitoids were properly preserved, allowing 

later identification of the hosts and their parasitoids. We collected so far 668 Geometridae 

specimens (21 species), of which 105 (8 species) were parasitized. The Braconidae, 

Microgastrinae and Ichneumonidae, Campopleginae were the most commom parasitoids. 

Macaria rigidata (Geometridae) the most commonly species found, presented the largest 

number of Ichneumonidae parasitoid. Diradops sp. (Banchinae), Neotheronia sp. (Pimplinae) 

and Jomini sp. (Campopleginae) were first recorded as parasitoids respectively on the 

Geometridae Macaria rigidata, Oxydia sp. and Prochoerodes sp. Other information about the 

bionomy of the species are presented and illustrated. The material studied is deposited in 

collection of the Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva da Universidade Federal de 

São Carlos,São Carlos, SP, Brazil. 

Financial support: FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) CNPq 

(Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico), CAPES (Coordenação de 

Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), INCT/ HYMPAR- Sudeste (Instituto 

Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia dos Hymenoptera Parasitóides da Região Sudeste 

Brasileira). 

____________________________________ 

Parasitic wasps of the Proctotrupoidea, Platygastroidea and Ceraphronoidea in New 

Zealand: review and analysis 

John W. Early 1* , Lubomir Masner 2 & Darren F. Ward 3 

1 Auckland Museum, Private Bag 92018, Auckland, New Zealand; jearly@aucklandmuseum.com 

2 Canadian National Insect Collection, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A0C6, Canada; 

lmasner@gmail.com 

3 New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Landcare Research, Private Bag 92170, Auckland, New Zealand; 

wardda@landcareresearch.co.nz 

We present an overview of the current state of knowledge of these three superfamilies of 

Apocrita in New Zealand based on published records and our accumulated unpublished 

experience from field work and examination of material in collections. Field collections made 

by sweeping and pan trapping in the cool, moist, temperate forests (the dominant habitat 

before human colonization) abound with individuals, particularly of the families Diapriidae 

and Platygastridae. There are 101 named species across the three superfamilies but we 

estimate that there are ca 750 species awaiting description. The fauna is characterized by two 

distinct extremes, viz. a marked absence in NZ of large world genera on one side and a 

stunning speciation in several mega genera on the other. The bulk of species diversity lies in 

the Spilomicrini (Diapriidae: Diapriinae) and the Platygastrinae (Platygastridae). Endemism at 

the species level is high (>90%) but tramp species are found in all families apart from the 

endemic Maamingidae. Strong Gondwanan relationships are found within the Proctotrupidae, 

Diapriidae (Ambositrinae, Belytinae), Scelionidae (Archaeoteleia) and Platygastridae 

(Sceliotrachelinae) which has arisen from New Zealand’s cataclysmic geological history. 

____________________________________ 

Exotic fig pollinators and associates (Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae) of Ficus trees in Europe 

Jose Vicente Falco-Gari 1 *, M.T. Oltra-Moscardo, F.J. Peris-Felipo & R. Jimenez-Peydro 

Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad, Universitat de Valencia, Apartado Oficial 22085, 46071-Valencia, Spain; 

j.vicente.falco@uv.es 

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The family Agaonidae, represented by 6 subfamilies and about 757 species worldwide 

(Bouek 1988), contains chalcidoids associated with Ficus trees. Agaoninae are strictly 

pollinator wasps of figs (they are a coevolution model of the mutualistic interaction between 

pollinator insects and plants); other subfamilies includes inquilines / gall formers of figs or 

gall formers of other plant parts and also parasitoids of all previous groups. The family shows 

a distribution specially centred in the Afrotropical, Indo-Australian and Neotropical regions. 

Three subfamilies and five species are known from Europe (Fauna Europea 2009): 

Blastophaga psenes and Eupristina verticillata (Agaoninae - pollinators of Ficus carica and 

Ficus microcarpa), Josephiella microcarpae and Odontofroggatia galili (Epichrysomallinae - 

leaf gall former and fig gall former in Ficus microcarpa) and Philotrypesis caricae 

(Sycoryctinae - parasitoid of B. psenes). 

A sampling work has been carried out on eleven species of ornamental Ficus trees in several 

cities of Eastern Spain and Balearic islands. Methodology combines both sweeping on the 

trees as collection of fig fruits. Results of this work are the record of seven species of 

Agaonidae, three of them (Pleistodontes imperialis, Walkerella microcarpae and 

Philotrypesis emeryi) are new for Europe; and the stablishment of ten Agaonidae-Ficus 

relationships, seven are new cases for Europe and two of them (Eupristina verticillata - Ficus 

benjamina and Pleistodontes imperialis - Ficus elastica) are new additional cases. Other 

bibliographic information has been revised. 

This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and by 

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Project CGL2004-02711). 

____________________________________ 

Diversity of Heloridae (Proctotrupoidea) in a protected natural area from Spain 

Jose Vicente Falco-Gari 1 *, M.T. Oltra-Moscardo, F.J. Peris-Felipo & R. Jimenez-Peydro 



Heloridae (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea) contains twelve species worldwide, all of them 

included in the only one genus Helorus. The genus is represented by four species in the West 

Palaearctic region. Members of this family are parasitoids of larvae of Chrysopa species 

(Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). 

The four European species (H. anomalipes, H. nigripes, H. ruficornis and H. striolatus) have 

been collected in a sampling work with a Malaise trap carried out in the Natural Park of 

“Tinença de Benifassa” (Valencian Community, Eastern Spain) during the three-year period 

2005-2007. Specific identification characters are pointed out, phenology of each species is 

studied, and potential chrysopid hosts for the group are suggested. 

This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and by 

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Project CGL2004-02711). 

____________________________________ 

Tracing the geographical origin of Eupelmus vesicularis and a molecular taxonomic 

analysis of the Eupelmus vesicularis species-complex 

Lucian Fusu 

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I nr. 11, 700506, Iai, Romania; 

lucfusu@hotmail.com 

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Epelmus vesicularis (Retzius, 1783) is one of the most widespread and common Eupelmidae 

species in Europe. It is also present in North America, but here probably was accidentally 

introduced prior to the 19th century (Gibson 1990). It is also the only species of Eupelmus 

(Macroneura) in New Zealand (Bouek 1988), which suggests another introduction. A vast 

number of hosts from many insect orders are recorded in the literature for E. vesicularis. 

Among its more economically important hosts are the Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor (Say) 

(Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and jointworms (the larvae of Tetramesa spp., Hymenoptera: 

Eurytomidae), destructive pests of wheat. Another intriguing biological aspect of the species 

is that it reproduces by thelytokous parthenogenesis in North America but both sexes occur in 

Europe (Gibson 1990, Graham 1969). Because of the biological and morphological variability 

I suspected that more than one species might be included under what historically has been 

interpreted as E. vesicularis and initiated an integrated taxonomy approach to investigate this 

possibility. Citogenetic (Fusu 2008) morphometric and allozyme data (Fusu 2010) showed 

that there are two species included under the name E. vesicularis. During these studies, further 

evidence gathered showing that it is possible that none of the two cryptic species detected so 

far is the true E. vesicularis. Current work, using one nuclear (ITS2) and one mitochondrial 

marker (COX) aims at building a molecular phylogeny of Eupelmus vesicularis species-group 

in order to detect cryptic lineages and is investigating the hypothesis that New Zealand and 

North American populations of the E. vesiculars species complex are in fact of Palaearctic 

origin and represent naturalized species introduced to this areas in historic times. 

____________________________________ 

The importance of morphological characters in the taxonomy of egg-parasitoids of 

the family Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) 

Viktor N. Fursov 

Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine; 

ufensia@gmail.com 

The family Trichogrammatidae includes over 830 species from 83 genera which are 

exclusively small-sized (less 1,0 mm) egg-parasitoids of insects from 11 orders (Coleoptera, 

Lepidoptera, Diptera, Heteroptera, Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, Thysanoptera, Psocoptera, 

Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Odonata). The family Trichogrammatidae is divided into two 

subfamiles and four tribes: Trichogrammatinae (Trichogrammatini) and Oligositinae 

(Chaetostrichini, Oligositini, Paracentrobiini). 

The fauna of Palaearctic region consists of such genera: eleven of Trichogrammini: Asynacta 

Foerst., Mirufens Gir., Neocentrobia Gir., Neocentrobiella Gir., Neolathromera Ishii, 

Ophioneurus Ratz., Poropoea Foerst., Pterandrophysalis Now., Soikiella Now., 

Trichogramma Westw., Trichogrammatoidea Gir.; one of Paracentrobiini: Paracentrobia 

How., six of Oligositini: Doirania Waterst., Epoligosita Gir., Megaphragma Timb., Oligosita 

Walk., Prestwichia Lubb., Pseudoligosita Gir., fourteen of Chaetostrichini: Aphelinoidea 

Gir., Bloodiella Now., Chaetostricha Walk., Chaetostrichella Gir., Lathromeris Foerst., 

Lathromeroidea Gir., Lathromeromyia Gir., Monorthochaeta Blood, Tumidiclava Gir., Ufens 

Gir., Ufensia Gir., Uscana Gir., Xiphogramma Now., Zagella Gir. 

The combination of various morphological characters are used for genera and species 

identification of Trichogrammatidae: presence and distribution of setae on fore wings; fore 

wings venation; ratio of width to length of fore wings; number of setae on marginal vein; 

presence of large sensillae between marginal and submarginal vein; setae between linearly 

arranged setal tracks; presence of RS1 vein; funicular and clava segmentation; ratio and size 

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of funicular segments; presence of placoid sensillae on funicle and clava; segmentation of 

maxillary palps; shape and form of hind tibial spur; setae, sculpture and shape of mesoscutum 

and scutellum; shape and length of ovipositor; shape of metasomal tergites; and structures of 

male genitalia. 

Large number of morphological structures of male genitalia are used for the identification of 

Trichogramma species: ratio of width to length of genital capsule; constriction of genital 

capsule and intervorsellar process; shape of parameres; form and position of apex of 

parameres; position of base of vorsellae and parameres; shape of vorsellae; width of 

vorsellae; presence and shape of apical process of vorsellae; level of extension of vorsellae 

beyond parameres; sclerotization and separation of vorsellae; presence and shape of 

intervorsellar process; shape of ventral ridge; presence of dorsal ridge and dorsal lamina; 

shape of posterior extension of dorsal lamina; shape of shoulders at base of dorsal lamina; 

shape and subdivision of aedeagus; ratio of aedeagus length to genital capsule length and 

apodemes length. The analysis of morphological characters together with a new molecular 

data and discovery of new biological information can greatly improve and justify current 

taxonomical position for many species of Trichogrammatidae. 

____________________________________ 

Life-cycle of a fig wasp Blastophaga psenes L. (Hymenoptera, Agaonidae) as obligate 

pollinator and gall-former in Ficus carica L. (Magnoliopsida) in Crimea, Ukraine 

Viktor N. Fursov 



The study of biology of agaonid wasps (Agaonidae) reveals a great evolutionary success of 

the fig and fig wasps pollination mutualism. Figs and fig wasps represent one of the best 

examples of species-specific mutualism and coevolution. The community of "figs-fig wasps" 

can be considered as a model system for coevolution and phylogenetic study. Life cycle of fig 

wasp Blastophaga psenes (L.) (Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae) as example of coevolution of 

obligate symbionts-pollinators and parasitic agaonid wasps with fig trees (Ficus carica L.). 

Material of B. psenes was collected in the fig tree plantations of the State Nikita Botanical 

Garden (Crimea, Yalta, Ukraine) during 2006-2009. New original data on life cycle, larval 

development, adult behaviour and phenology of three generations of B. psenes as an obligate 

pollinator of edible fig trees (Ficus carica L.) in the Crimea (Ukraine) were received by the 

author. Females and males of B. psenes induce a gall and develop from eggs into adults inside 

syconia on male fig trees (caprifigs). It was observed that in the Crimea the larvae of B. 

psenes overwinter in the galls inside caprifigs and pupate in the second or third weeks of 

April. The copulation of males and females occurs inside the caprifigs. The males emerge 

before the females and gnaw an exit hole from inside the caprifig through the scales of the 

stigma. The females escape through this hole later. In the spring (April-May) the females of 

1st generation B. psenes lay eggs in short-style pistils inside the inflorescence of caprifigs. In 

June-July 2nd generation B. psenes females emerge from the caprifigs and migrate to 

pollinate long-style pistils inside the inflorescence of female fig trees. Near the end of this 

period of pollination (July-August) some 2nd generation females of B. psenes oviposit in the 

short-style pistils. In September-October females of the final 3rd generation of B. psenes lay 

eggs inside the caprifigs and the larvae of this generation hibernate until the following spring. 

The emergence of 1st generation B. psenes was observed from the end of April up to the end 

of May (21.IV.-26.V.2007 and 28.IV.-30.V.2008). The 2nd generation B. psenes was 

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observed from the end of June to the end of July (25.VI.-26.VII.2007 and 02.VII.- 

25.VII.2008). The 3rd generation of B. psenes was observed from the end of September to the 

beginning of October (30.IX.-10.X.2007 and 03.X.-14.X.2008). The earliest dates of 

oviposition of B. psenes were recorded as: 1st generation – 21-28.IV., 2nd – 30.VII.-02.VIII, 

and 3rd – 30.IX.-03.X. Oviposition was observed to continue for: 1st generation 32-35 days, 

2nd – 9-16 days, and 3rd – 11-12 days. The earliest dates of pollination of female fig trees by 

2nd generation of B. psenes was noted as 25.VI.-02.VII. and continued for 23-31 days. The 

total period of development of each of the three generations of B. psenes were: 1st generation 

– 192-236 days, 2nd – 31-67 days, and 3rd – 65-77 days. One species of agaonid wasp, 

Philotrypesis caricae (L.) (Agaonidae), being the parasitoid of B. psenes was recorded in the 

Crimea on F. carica. It was observed that females of Ph. caricae do not participate in the 

pollination of F. carica trees. The larvae of Ph. caricae develop as parasitoids of B. psenes in 

the galled inflorescence of caprifigs of F. carica. The females of Ph. caricae have a very long 

ovipositor that exceeds the length of the female's body. Females of Ph. caricae penetrate the 

rounded galls inside young caprifigs and lay eggs inside the larvae of B. psenes. 

____________________________________ 

Flower visiting by Sand Wasps in southern Africa 

Sarah K. Gess & Friedrich W. Gess 

Department of Entomology, Albany Museum and Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6139 South Africa; 

s.gess@ru.ac.za; f.gess@ru.ac.za 

The synthesis of the knowledge of the natural history and behaviour of the Sand Wasps by 

Howard Evans and Kevin O’Neill (2007) indicates that little has been published on flower 

visiting by Sand Wasps. This being so it seems of interest to examine the flower visiting 

records associated with the Albany Museum collection of Sand Wasps (Crabronidae: 

Bembicinae, as recognized by Pulawski 2010). The majority are derived from the purposeful 

collecting by Friedrich and Sarah Gess during the course of their study of aculeate wasps and 

bees in the semi-arid to arid areas of southern Africa. 

The genera represented are Bembix (13 spp., 394 records), Hopliosoides (1 sp., 19 records), 

Handlirschia (1 sp., 10 records), Kohlia (1 sp., 117 records), Bembecinus (18 spp., 344 

records), Stizus (6 spp., 184 records) and Stizoides (3 spp., 7 records). 

In the semi-arid to arid areas of southern Africa these genera most commonly visit small 

flowered readily accessible flowers of one or more of the families, Asteraceae, Fabaceae 

(Acacia), Amaranthaceae, Molluginaceae, Aizoaceae (non-Mesembryanthema), Apiaceae, 

Nyctaginaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Celastraceae and Scrophulariaceae (in particular Selago), all 

generalist flowers. Some Bembix species are in addition not uncommon visitors to Aizoaceae 

(Mesembryanthema) and Apocynaceae (Asclepias). 

No species of Bembicinae are broadly polyphagus as are some bees, most notably in the 

family Apidae. None are specialists. As regards pollination services, all transport pollen and 

can be considered to be amongst the potential pollinators of the generalist flowers. Bembix 

and Stizus, visiting flowers of Apocynaceae, like spider hunting wasps (Pompilidae) visiting 

these flowers, transport pollinia giving them the potential to be pollinators. Most ‘mesems’ 

are most frequently and dependably pollinated by pollen wasps (Masarinae) and bees, 

however, Bembix do have the potential to be additional pollinators of the ‘mesem’ flowers 

that they visit. 

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Chromosomes of Xyela julii (Xyelidae) and karyotype evolution in the order 

Hymenoptera 

Vladimir E. Gokhman 


The order Hymenoptera is the largest group of haplodiploid insects with the predominantly 

arrhenotokous mode of reproduction. Chromosomes of approximately 1800 species of the 

Hymenoptera are studied up to now. These species belong to all traditional major subdivisions 

of the order, namely: the suborder Symphyta (about 400 studied species) as well as Parasitica 

(more than 400 studied species) and Aculeata (about 1000 studied species); two latter groups 

are usually merged into the suborder Apocrita. Although a few attempts of phylogenetic 

analysis of chromosomal diversity in the order were made since the 1970s, karyotype 

structure of the most ancient hymenopteran family Xyelidae which was detected in the fossil 

record since the middle of the Triassic, was previously unknown. I have managed for the first 

time to study chromosomes of the common European species of this family, Xyela julii 

(Brébisson). This species has 2n = 50; most chromosomes are relatively small subtelocentrics 

and acrocentrics. These data confirm an assumption that a number of moderate reductions in 

the chromosome number (to n = 18-20 and less) through chromosomal fusions occurred 

within different groups of the Symphyta. These reductions, however, were more substantial 

(to n = 7-10 and less) in the superfamily Tenthredinoidea where large biarmed chromosomes 

predominate in many species. On the other hand, the superfamily Pamphilioidea is likely to 

have higher ancestral n values (20 to 26). A chromosome set with n = 14-19 is considered 

ancestral for the suborder Apocrita. A number of independent decreases in chromosome 

number (to n = 10-11 and then to n = 4-6 and less) were also detected in various groups of the 

Parasitica. The phenomenon of parallel reductions in the chromosome number within 

different groups of the order, especially within the Symphyta and Parasitica, represents an 

excellent example of the so-called karyotypic orthoselection. Although Aculeata are usually 

considered the best karyotypically studied group of the order, many aspects of the existing 

pattern of karyotype evolution within this group are still poorly known. For example, the 

highest chromosome number in the Hymenoptera, 2n = 120 found in South American 

Dinoponera lucida Emery (Formicidae), was published just about two years ago. Moreover, 

according to the results of the preliminary phylogenetic analysis, the trend towards an 

increase in the chromosome number through centric fissions that is traditionally ascribed to 

the superfamilies Vespoidea and Formicoidea, is likely to have operated only at the level of 

certain genera and species. 

____________________________________ 

 

Foodweb structure and diversity of parasitoid communities (Hym., Chalcidoidea) of 

herb gallwasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) inducing galls on Lamiaceae 

J.F. Gómez 1 , Richard R. Askew 2 & José Luis Nieves-Aldrey 3* 

1 Dpto de Zoología y Antropología Física. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas (UCM). C/ Jose Antonio Novais, 2, 

28040 Madrid, Spain; jf.gomez@bio.ucm.es 

2 5, Beeston Hall Mews, Beeston, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 9TZ, England 

3 Dpto. de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC). C/ José Gutiérrez 

Abascal, 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; aldrey@mncn.csic.es 

We compiled literature data and unpublished qualitative and quantitative information on the 

parasitoid community (Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea) of herb gall wasps (Hymenoptera, 

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Cynipidae, ”Aylacini”) inducing galls on different species of plants of the family Lamiaceae. 

The host gall community is composed of 4 cynipid species inducing galls on stems, leaves 

and fruits of different species of Glechoma, Nepeta and Salvia. Liposthenes glechomae 

(Linnaeus, 1758) galling stems and leaves of Glechoma hederacea L.; L. kerneri (Wachtl, 

1891) on fruits of Nepeta ssp.; Neaylax salviae (Giraud, 1859) on fruits of Salvia 

lavandulifolia Vahl. and N. verbenacus (Nieves-Aldrey, 1988) also on fruits of Salvia 

verbenaca L. The studied associated parasitoid community accounted 16 identified species 

belonging to six chalcidoid families as follows: Eulophidae (2), Eupelmidae (3), Eurytomidae 

(3), Ormyridae (2), Pteromalidae (2) and Torymidae (4) (Hym., Chalcidoidea). The two 

cynipid species galling fruits of Salvia share related parasitoid components although Neaylax 

salviae accounted more species. The parasitoid community associated to Liposthenes 

glechomae is more diverse than the one observed in L. kerneri. Semiquantitative food webs 

and quantitative data for the studied communities are presented. 

____________________________________ 

 

Larval morphology of Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) parasitoids of 

gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in Europe 

J.F. Gómez 1 , Richard R. Askew 2 & José Luis Nieves-Aldrey 3* 

1 Dpto de Zoología y Antropología Física. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas (UCM). C/ Jose Antonio Novais, 2, 

28040 Madrid, Spain; jf.gomez@bio.ucm.es 

2 5, Beeston Hall Mews, Beeston, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 9TZ, England 

3 Dpto. de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC). C/ José Gutiérrez 

Abascal, 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; aldrey@mncn.csic.es 

The large chalcidoid family Pteromalidae is one of the main components of the parasitoid 

community inhabiting cynipid galls (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). About 50 pteromalid species 

taking part of that community have been recorded in the Palaearctic. However knowledge of 

larval morphology and biology for most species is still poor. Here is presented a 

comprehensive and comparative study of larval morphology and biology of seven species of 

Pteromalidae parasitoids of gall wasps in Europe. The studied species were: Rivasia fumariae 

Askew & Nieves-Aldrey, Stinoplus lapsanae Graham, Pteromalus bedeguaris (Thomson), 

Pteromalus hieracii (Thomson), Pteromalus isarchus Walker, Arthrolytus glandium Boucek 

and Cecidostiba fungosa Geoffroy in Fourcroy. The studied species are representatives of the 

specific parasitoid components associated to different gall wasp food guilds: galls on herbs, 

shrubs, and galls on oaks. In the larval descriptive study special reference was made upon 

body shape, head capsule, mouthparts and mandibles and also on chaetotaxy of head. The 

terminal-instar larvae of all studied species is for the first time thoroughly described and 

illustrated with SEM pictures as well as diagnostic characters for the studied genera are 

provided. A key for the identification of terminal instar larvae of the seven species reared 

from cynipids galls is also given. Information, including new rearing records, is given on the 

larval biology of each species. Most studied pteromalid larvae are solitary ectoparasitoids of 

the host cynipid larvae with different trophic ranges from monophagous to polyphagous. 

____________________________________ 

Diversity and distribution of the Formica species in Georgia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) 

Nana Gratiashvili 1 *, Bernhard Seifert 2 & Shalva Barjadze 1 

1 Entomology and Biocontrol Research Centre of Ilia State University, 0179, Tbilisi, Georgia; 

nanagratiashvili@yahoo.com 

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2 Department of Entomology, Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde, Am Museum 1, D- 02826 Goerlitz, 

Germany; bernhard.seifert@senckenberg.de 

144 species of ants belonging to 4 subfamilies and 35 genera are recorded from Georgia. The 

most widely distributed and species-rich genus is Formica making up 18 species. The 

subgenus Serviformica is represented by 11 species, the subgenus Formica s.str. by 3 species, 

the subgenus Coptoformica - by 3 species, while the subgenus Raptiformica is represented by 

only 1 species. One species of the subgenus Coptoformica from the Great Caucasus is new for 

science. Queens of Formica georgica Seifert, 2002 are recorded for the first time. Maps of 

Georgia are presented showing the collecting sites for each subgenus. Faunistic similarity 

coefficients between the ants living in the different administrate regions and vegetation belts 

are estimated and the corresponding cluster diagrams are presented. 

____________________________________ 

First record of Wolbachia in Trissolcus species (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) 

Nurper Guz 1 , Erhan Kocak 2* , A. Emre Akpinar 3 , M. Oktay Gürkan 1 & A. Neset Kilincer 1 

1 Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture, Ankara Turkey; nurperguz@agri.ankara.edu.tr 

2 Ankara Plant Protection Central Research Institute, Ankara Turkey 

3 Ankara University Biotechnology Institue, Ankara Turkey 

The sunn pest Eurygaster integriceps Puton (Hemiptera: Scutelleridae) is a major pest of 

wheat and barley in wide areas of the near and middle east, west and central Asia, north 

Africa, and eastern and south Europe (Brown 1965; Critchley 1998; Praker et al. 2002). The 

pest feeds on both vegetative stages of the plant and maturing grain. Sunn pest infestations in 

some areas can lead to 100% crop loss in the absence of control measures. The current 

management strategy for this pest mainly relies on chemical control. In addition to the high 

cost, insecticides pose a risk to the balance of nature and resistance has developed to various 

types of insecticides. Thus new control methods are needed to diminish reliance on 

insecticides for control of this serious crop pest. Among natural controls the most promising 

of them are the egg parasitoids. The most important egg parasitoids belong to the genus 

Trissolcus Ashmead and Telenomus Haliday (Hymenoptera, Scelionidae). Especially 

frequently observed parasitoid species play a potential role in suppressing sunn pest 

populations below the economic threshold however, the success of the parasitoid varies 

among the regions and varies from year to year. Several studies have been conducted in order 

to improve the efficiency of the parasitoid. Since the success of a biological control is 

dependent on many factors, including mass rearing of the beneficial in the laboratory and 

release of the beneficial which can be a great concern. We hypothesized Wolbachia infection 

might affect the establishment of Trissolcus species. Wolbachia is an intracellular symbiont 

which causes reproductive alterations including cytoplasmic incompatibility, feminization, 

parthenogenesis and male-killing in many host insects (O’Neill et al. 1992; Bourtzis & 

O’Neill 1998; Werren 1997; Hurst et al. 2000). In this study we detected Wolbachia as an 

endosymbiont of Trissolcus species, for the first time, by using polymerase chain reaction 

(PCR) analysis. We used universal primers of wsp gene encoding a surface protein of 

Wolbachia in PCR amplifications. After cloning PCR products we designed new primers 

which are specific to Wolbachia harbored in Trissolcus species. Using species specific 

primers we scanned Trissolcus species including T. festivae, T. grandis, T. simoni, T. 

semistriatus, T. vassillievi, T. rufiventrus and T. flavipes in terms of Wolbachia infection. Wsp 

gene sequences of different parasitoids have been reported. With this study Wolbachia 

infection status of various Trissolcus species was recognized. Further cross mating 

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experiments should be done in order to learn more about the role of Wolbachia in cytoplasmic 

incompatibility. 

____________________________________ 

Some biological aspects of a seed pest wasp, Bruchophagus astragali 

(Hym.: Eurytomidae), in rangelands of Chaharmahal & Bakhtiary province of Iran 

Farschad Haghighian 1 & Seyed Ebrahim Sadeghi 2* 

1 Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center, P.O.Box 405, Shahrekord, Iran; fhagh101@yahoo.com 

2 Research Institute of Forest and Ranglands, P.O.Box 13185-116, Tehran, Iran; ebrasadeghi@gmail.com 

The most important forage plants in rangelands of Chaharmahal & Bakhtiary province of Iran 

belong to the family Papilionaceae. The knowledge of the main factors that affect these 

valuable plant species is important for their management and maximum decreasing of the 

damage level. A survey carried out during 2002-07, showed that the eurytomid wasp, 

Bruchophagus astragali, is one of the most important seed pests of plants in the Papilionaceae 

family. This insect was reported for the first time by the authors from Chaharmahal & 

Bakhtiary province in 2004. The wasp lays eggs into seed pods, the hatched larvae feed in 

seeds and by the end of their developing entirely consume the seed. The infected seed pods 

were collected from rangelands and adults were reared under the laboratory conditions. 

Different species of Papilionaceae were proposed to the reared adults and the results indicate 

that B. astragali were active on plants from all genera of Papilionaceae, therefore, B.astragali 

is an oligophagous pest. The most important natural enemy of this pest appeared to be a 

parasitoid chalcid wasp from the genus Tetrastichus sp (Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae), an 

ectoparasitoid of larvae. The parasitism rate of B. astragali by this parasitoid was 9- 13%. 

____________________________________ 

New data on the occurrence of stephanids (Hymenoptera, Stephanidae) 

in Turkey and Greece 

Jacek Hilszczaski 

Department of Forest Protection, Forest Research Institute, Sekocin Stary ul. Braci Lesnej 3 

05-090 Raszyn, Poland; hilszczj@ibles.waw.pl 

Stephanidae is a small cosmopolitan family occurring mostly in tropical and subtropical forest 

ecosystems, where these idiobiont parasitoids are associated with wood boring beetles. In the 

Palaearctic the family is predominantly known from the southern part of the region. 

Stephanids are rare in collections and only Stephanus serrator Panzer is recorded from many 

countries (Fauna Europaea). From Turkey, where the diversity of potential hosts of stephanids 

is as high as or higher than in Europe, stephanids have been recorded only recently (Yildirim 

& Kolarov 2006). Similarly in Greece only the most common S. serrator has been listed so 

far. In the present work some results of collecting and rearing stephanids are presented. Three 

species are new for Turkey: Megischus anomalipes Foerster, S. serrator, and Afromegischus 

gigas (Schletterer) as well as a new record of Foenatopus turcomanorum Semenov. M. 

anomalipes is recorded as new for Greece. Data on host and habitat are presented for some 

species. 

____________________________________ 

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Research of the family Ichneumonidae in the Czech Republic 

Kamil Holy 

Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507, CZ-161 06 Prague, Czech Republic; holy@vurv.cz 

The family Ichneumonidae is one of insufficiently explored insect families in the Czech 

Republic (CZ). The total number of species has been estimated as 3,000; however, the 

checklist, which is currently under preparation, lists only approximately 2,000 species. A 

regularly updated checklist version is available online at http://hymenopteracz.sweb.cz/. 

Many individuals found within the CZ territory are dispersed in foreign museums and private 

collections. Should you have any information about species not included in the checklist, 

please let me know. 

The family Ichneumonidae has been studied intensively in the Czech Republic only by 

Frantisek Gregor sen. during the first half of the last century and Josef Sedivy in the second 

half of 20 th century and at the beginning of the 21 st century. In the forties and fifties of the last 

century the Ichneumonologist Radoslav Obrtel was very active, as well as Serhij Kolubajiv in 

the middle of the century who studied the importance of ichneumonids as parasitoids of forest 

insect pests. Currently, 2 – 3 researchers are extensively engaged in the research of this family 

in the CZ. 

Predominant majority of historical collections of the family Ichneumonidae are located in 

the National Museum, Prague (collection of J. Sedivy and F. Gregor) and Moravian Museum, 

Brno. Smaller collections are found in the Silesian Museum, Opava; Crop Research Institute, 

Prague; Forestry and Game Management Research Institute, Strnady; and Museum of Eastern 

Bohemia, Hradec Kralove. 

A systematically arranged collection can be found only in the National Museum, Prague, and 

in the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, Hradec Kralove. The other collections are gradually 

being classified in subfamilies. Only the individuals of the subfamily Rhyssinae have been 

determined in their entirety and entered in a database from all museum collections, and the 

subfamilies Acaenitinae, Agriotypinae and Collyriinae are about to be completed. 

The occurrence and ecological demands of selected species will be presented at the 

conference. 

This work was partly supported by grant of Ministry of Agriculture MZE 0002700604. 

____________________________________ 

The resources of Trichogrammatidae and Mymaridae and their utilization in biological 

control in Xinjiang, China 

Hongying Hu 

College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumq, 830046 China; hoohyii@sina.com 

Based upon the extensive investigation of Trichogrammatidae and Mymaridae fauna in 

Xinjiang, China during 2001-2008, mainly collected by sweeping and further examination of 

mounted specimens in thousands of slides, 19 genera with 48 species of Trichogrammatidae 

and 16 genera with 54 species of Mymaridae were found and described, including new 

distribution records for China and new species for science. 

Additionally, Trichogramma pintoi Voegele was found in much arid region (Fukang desert), 

and Ufensia xinjiangensis Hu et Lin is widely distributed in Xinjiang, which provide a 

scientific reference for the use of the native natural enemy to control pests in Xinjiang. The 

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biological characters of these two species were studied. The richest trichogrammatid and 

mymarid fauna is in Jungar basin where the fauna component is very complex. The Tarim 

basin species richness is lower, the fauna component is simpler. Species richness in Eastern 

basins is higher than in Tarim basin. The species richness in Tianshan Mountains is lower 

than in Jungar and Tarim basins mainly due to the inadequate collecting. 

Xinjiang is the largest province in China, encounting 1/6 of total area. There are two large 

basins, many of them are oasis, with wide and flat land, it is beneficial to control the pest by 

natural enemy, especially for using Trichogramma for controlling Helicoverpa armigera and 

Ostrinia furnalis. For thirty years, the plant protection experts in Xinjiang (Yang Haifeng, 

Guo Wenchao, Ma Qi etc.) introduced T. chilonis, T. pintoi and T. ostriniae from Central Asia 

and inner land of China into Xinjiang, to control the dominant pest, Helicoverpa armigera 

and Ostrinia furnalis, but it was difficult for these species to adapt to the extremely dry and 

hot environment, so looking for the native species is the key to biocontrol the pest. 

____________________________________ 

EOS, Revista ibérica de Entomología, soon available online 

Isabel Izquierdo Moya 1 *, José Martín Cano 2 & Carolina Martín Albadalejo 1 

1 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; 

izquierdo@mncn.csic.es 

2 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain 

Eos, the earliest Spanish magazine devoted to Entomology, had to be closed in 1994, after a 

life of sixty-nine year, due to budget adjustments of the CSIC, the Spanish Scientific Research 

Council. Now, thanks to a project funded by the institution itself, we are working on 

digitizing the contents of the 69 volumes of the journal in order to upload them to Internet. 

In this communication we report the current status of our project and the website where the 

journal could be localized in a near future. We also offer details about the contents of the 

magazine as subjects, authors, geographic areas covered, descriptions of new taxa, and so on. 

____________________________________ 

Contribution of EOS, Revista Española de Entomología, (1925-1994) to the knowledge of 

the Hymenoptera 

Isabel Izquierdo Moya 

Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; 

izquierdo@mncn.csic.es 

This communication presents an analysis of the articles about the Order Hymenoptera that 

were published in EOS during his 69 years of life. These papers constitute a significant 

volume in the magazine since they represent nearly the 20% of the total of 1201 articles 

published in it. 

It provides data on the authors, types of research and contents of these works, the faunas and 

geographical areas considered, as well as the new taxa described and most relevant revisions. 

____________________________________ 

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Updates to the evolution of torymids (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) 

Petr Janšta 

Charles University, Faculty of Sciencies, Department of Zoology, Vininá 7, 128 44 Prague 2, Czech Republic; 

janstapetr@gmail.com 

Torymidae is one of the middiverse group of chalcids (together about 650 described species 

worldwide classified into ca 70 genera). Up to now, phylogeny was reconstructed by Grissell 

(1995) based on morphological characters. He estimated two subfamilies (Megastigminae and 

Toryminae) and 7 tribes within Toryminae. Phylogenetic position of 7 genera is still 

unresolved and they are classified as incertae sedis. Most of the torymids are primarily 

ectoparasitoids of various gall makers (mainly of Cynipidae and Cecidomyiidae), mantids 

eggs or larvae of bees, phytophagous species are quite rare within subfamily Toryminae. On 

the other hand, the number of known species of Megastigminae are phytophagous species, 

mostly they belong to the genus Megastigmus. But there are also some genera of 

Megastigminae which are ectoparasitoids of various gall makers. It is generally supposed that 

Megastigminae is the more primitive than Torymidae and the phytophagous strategy is 

ancestral for whole family. 

Based on sequencing of 28S rDNA of about half of known genera of torymids I have got 

evidence to support all estimated tribes. The subfamily Megastigminae seems to be really 

more basal to the rest of the family. All of tribes are also well supported but their position to 

each other is still unclear. The most basal tribe of Toryminae seems to be tribe Chalcimerini. 

Position of nearly all taxa published by Grissell (1995) as incertae sedis are classified based 

on 28S rDNA into known tribes. The phytophagy as ancestral strategy can not be refused, but 

there is new theory that phytophagy can be secondarily developed and the ancestor of 

torymids could be rather zoophagous. 

____________________________________ 

Morphometrics and host information for the support of phylogenetic relations in genera 

Microterys Thomson and Aschitus Mercet (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) 

George Japoshvili 

Department of Entomology, Institute of Zoology, Ilia Chavchavadze State University, Tbilisi, Georgia; 

giorgij70@yahoo.com 

The systematic relationship between the encyrtid genera Microterys and Aschitus was 

investigated using a phylogenetic analysis based on 35 morphometric character traits scored 

from 26 species housed in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. The results of 

the analysis were combined with host information which was obtained from the Universal 

Chalcidoidea Database and ScaleNet. In all, 78 species of hosts have been recorded for 18 of 

the studied parasitoid species. Preliminary results show that M. zarina and M. aeneiventris 

should be transferred back to Microterys from Aschitus. A separate morphometric study 

indicates that Aschitus incertus should be regarded a new, subjective synonym of Aschitus 

madyes. 

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Preliminary investigation of Chalcidoidea in Hainan Island, China 

Tian-Yang Jiao 1,2 & Hui Xiao 1 

1 Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 

Beijing 100101, P. R. China; huixiaouk@yahoo.com 

2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China; jiaoty@ioz.ac.cn 

Hainan province is the southernmost and smallest province of China, located in the South of 

China Sea. There are many islands in Hainan province, of which the largest island is Hainan 

Island. Hainan Island is located in tropical areas south of the Tropic of Cancer, separated from 

Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula to the north by a shallow and narrow strait. Investigation of 

Biodiversity of Hanan Island is a Basic research supported by the Ministry of Sciences and 

Technology of the China. This project is began four years ago and initiated in November 

2006. The project planned as a five-year project, and the goal was to investigate and discover 

species including plant, Vertebrate, Invertebrates and Fungi in the Island. We collected 3 

times once a year at different season and till now we had collected 5500 specimens of 

Chalcidoidea. 

We found there are 16 families of Chalcidoidea distributed in Hainan Island. They are 

Agaonidae, Aphelinidae, Chalcididae, Encyrtidae, Eucharitidae, Eulophidae, Eupelmidae, 

Eurytomidae, Mymaridae, Ormyridae, Pteromalidae, Signiphoridae, Tanaostigmatidae, 

Tetracampidae, Torymidae, Trichogrammatidae. Among these, four families, Ormyridae, 

Signiphoridae, Tanaostigmatidae and Tetracampidae are newly recorded in Hainan Island. 

There are 106 genus recorded (no include genus of Encyrtidae, Eulophidea and Agonidae): 7 

genus of Aphelinidae, 5 genus of Chalcididae, 3 genuse of Eucharitidae, 6 genus of 

Eupelmidae, 7 genus of Eurytomidae, 9 genus of Mymaridae, 1 genus of Ormyridae, 52 genus 

of Pteromalidae, 1 genus of Signiphoridae, 1 genus of Tanaostigmatidae, 2 genus of 

Tetracampidae, 9 genus of Torymidae, 3 genus of Trichogrammatidae. Among these, four 

families, Ormyridae, Signiphoridae, Tanaostigmatidae and Tetracampidae 85 genus of them 

are new records in Hainan Island, including 13 genus newly recorded in China (Schizaspidia 

Westwood, Orasema Cameron, Plutarchia Girault, Ramdasoma Narendran, Epiclerus 

Haliday, Tetracampe Förster, Australoodera Girault, Rhynchoticida Bouek, Signiphora 

Ashmead, Apycnetron Bouek, Aggelma Delucchi, Pseudocatolaccus Masi, Caenacis 

Förster). 

Till now, there are 142 species which had been identified. 92 species of them are new records 

in Hainan Island; including 39 species are newly recorded in China. 

The project is still ongoing. There are probably 7-16 new species which will be described. 

Based on all the material which we collected, 10 percent of all the specimens is Pteromalidae, 

70 percent is Eulophidae. The other 20 percent is material of all the other families. It shows 

that Pteromalidae, Eulophidae, Encyrtidae and Agaonidae are very richness in Hainan Island. 

The further taxonomic work will be focus on these families. 

____________________________________ 

The Swedish Malaise Trap Project 

One step further! 

Dave Karlsson 

Ärvingevägen 14, 164 46 Stockholm, Sweden; dave.karlsson@nrm.se 

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The Swedish Malaise Trap Project (SMTP) was launched in 2003 with the aim of making 

fresh material available for morphological and molecular research on insects, particularly 

poorly known groups such as the Hymenoptera and Diptera. The field part was concluded in 

2006 and resulted in 1,900 samples (190 trap-years) containing an estimated 40 million 

specimens. Since then, the focus has been on sorting and sending out the material for 

identification and taxonomic research, and about 40 % of the material are sorted hitherto. The 

out-sorted insects have shown to be a real gold mind for entomologists and a network of 

professional systematists and amateur taxonomists are now working on the material. 

The main goals for the SMTP is to (1) sort and distribute all the collected insects; (2) compile 

and make available species lists for the identified material; (3) build, adequately document 

and preserve our reference collection for future barcoding of the Swedish insect fauna; (4) 

analyze the efficiency of the SMTP in collecting the Swedish insect fauna to better estimate 

the size and composition of the fauna and to optimize future collecting efforts in Sweden as 

well as world wide; and (5) engage in outreach activities inspired by the results obtained in 

the project. 

We estimate that at least half the Swedish insect species, probably more, are represented in 

the material. Species lists and reference material for DNA barcoding are already continuously 

returned and the results so far indicate that the material may contain up to 5,000 new Swedish 

species, more than 1,000 of which may be new to science. These results appear to support our 

initial guess that the SMTP would increase the known Swedish insect fauna from 25,000 to 

more than 30,000. 

Only a few results reported so far by the SMTP specialists can be mentioned here. The richest 

single source of new additions to the Swedish insect fauna are the Phoridae (Diptera). The 

most recent tally of the megadiverse phorid genus Megaselia resulted in 800 morphospecies 

in the SMTP material, 523 of which are new to science. Highlights from the Hymenoptera 

include the reports of the ichneumonids Cladeutes discedens (Tryphoninae; genus new to 

Sweden), Diacritus aciculatus (Diacritinae; subfamily new to Sweden), and Micromonodon 

tener (Cryptinae; genus new to Sweden). Seventeen new species of the Meteorinae (Hym.: 

Braconidae), sixteen of which were undescribed, are discovered. In the Diplazontinae (Hym.: 

Ichneumonidae), 19 new species have been recorded from Sweden so far, four or five of 

which are new to science. In the Ichneumoninae, 28 new Swedish species have been recorded 

with 10 – 20 more expected. Five new Cheloninae (Braconidae) from Sweden and seven new 

Platygastridae for science are also reported. 

But even if these rapports are impressive, they are based just upon a fraction of the collected 

insects. About 300 people have hitherto contributed in one way or the other to the project. Our 

guess is that when the project is done in the future, there will be maybe 300 more. Are you 

one of them? 

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Field observations on the defense and hunting behaviour of Pompilidae species 

(Hymenoptera: Insecta) 

Mehmet Ali Kirpik 

Department of Biology, Kafkas University, Faculty of Science and Letters, 36100 Kars-Turkey; 

kirpik80@hotmail.com 

This study was conducted at 8 sites determined in the south-west of Kars rural are between 

2005 and 2008. During the study which was conducted between 9 am and 6 pm in a day, 

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female members of Anoplius viaticus (Linnaeus 1758) of Pompilidae family, which were 

caught at the sites marked with GPS, were marked and its hunting success, refinding the prey 

that was lost, and the number of nests dug on a daily basis were examined. The study has 

found out that, female members of pompilids Asilidae (Diptera: Insecta) family attacked 

directly, whereas the members of Formica rufa Linnaeus,1761 attacked indirectly to 

pompilids. Obtained information is new about pompilids. 

____________________________________ 

A review of the wasp genus Lyroda from Thailand (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) 

Lukas Kirschey 1 * & Michael Ohl 2 

Museum für Naturkunde Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung an der Humbold- 

Univerität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany; 

1 lukas.kirschey@mfn-berlin.de; 2 michael.ohl@mfn-berlin.de 

The apoid wasp genus Lyroda belongs in the Miscophini and comprises 25 described species 

from all regions yet. Typical Lyroda are inconspicuous, mostly black wasps. Previously only 

one species was known to occur in Thailand. A large number of Lyroda from Thailand 

recently collected by the Thailand Inventory Group for Entomological Research (TIGER) 

gives us the possibility to re-examine the diversity of Lyroda in Thailand and neighbouring 

countries. At least ten undescribed species were found among the TIGER specimens. On the 

basis of external morphological characters, the new species were compared with already 

described species and with the relevant literature. 

____________________________________ 

The evolution of antennal courtship in parasitoid wasps of the subfamily Diplazontinae 

(Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) 

Seraina Klopfstein 1,2* , Donald Quicke 3 & Christian Kropf 1 

1 Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, 2 Universität Bern, Switzerland; klopfstein@nmbe.ch; 

christian.kropf@nmbe.ch 

3 Imperial College London, UK; d.quicke@imperial.ac.uk 

Because of their potential to cause reproductive isolation, characters associated with courtship 

behaviour are believed to play an important role in the diversification of life. In the speciesrich 

insect order Hymenoptera, the use of the antennae during courtship is very widespread, 

but the reconstruction of its evolutionary history is obstructed by the lack of courtship data for 

most species. 

Recently, we reported a new mode of antennal courtship in the parasitoid wasp Syrphoctonus 

tarsatorius where the male curls its antennae in double-coils around the antennae of the 

female. We developed a method to reproduce this movement in amputated antennae which 

allows retrieving information about antennal courtship from museum specimens. Applying 

this method to the parasitoid subfamily Diplazontinae, we obtain courtship data for 40 

species. To reconstruct the evolution of antennal courtship in diplazontines, we compiled a 

molecular phylogeny based on two mitochondrial and two nuclear genes. With one exception, 

the resulting phylogeny confirms the current genus-level classification. Mapping the mode of 

antennal courtship on the phylogeny, we found that the mode of antennal coiling is tightly 

linked to the position of antennal structures connected to internal glands. Moreover, a single 

origin is most probable for both single- and double-coiling, and coiling has been lost on three 

separate occasions. These results suggest a low speed of evolution of this character and 

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contradict the hypothesis that antennal coiling had a major impact on the diversification of 

this subfamily. 

____________________________________ 

Trophical links of Bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Bombus) 

in Vologda Region of Russia 

Natalia S. Kolesova 

Vologda State Pedagogical University, Vologda, 160034 Russia; nbalukova@yandex.ru 

There is a great species variety of vascular plants in Vologda Region: 1706 species of 

vascular plants are reckoned among 137 families. About 36% of them are entomophilous 

plants. The study of trophical links was carried out in 2001–2009. 4487 visits of 121 species 

of entomophilous plants reckoned among 36 families made by bumblebees were registered. 

The most numerous family in Vologda Region – Asteraceae – is the most frequently visited 

one, it was registered that its 26 species were visited by 28 species of bumblebees. We 

registered that 25 species of bumblebees visited 13 species of Fabaceae, 25 – 2 Dipsacaceae, 

19 – 2 Onagraceae, 18 – 13 Rosaceae, 18 – 5 Scrophulariaceae, 16 – 12 Lamiaceae, 

respectively. Centaurea pseudophrygia (Asteraceae) and Knautia arvensis (Dipsacaceae) are 

the most frequently visited species of plants visited by 25 species of bumblebees each. 22 

species of bumblebees were registered on Vicia cracca (Fabaceae), 20 – Trifolium pratense 

(Fabaceae), 19 – Chamaenerion angustifolium (Onagraceae), 16 – Cirsium arvense 

(Asteraceae), 15 – Carduus crispus (Asteraceae), 15 – Rhinanthus minor (Scrophulariaceae), 

respectively. The attractiveness index shows these plants are the most attractive for all species 

of bumblebees including rare ones. 

The analysis of the spectrum of plants which are visited by bumblebees proved that the widest 

spectrum (31–52 species) is typical for 7 most numerous species of the region (out of 23 

species of the regional species of bumblebees): B. hypnorum, B. hortorum, B. lapidarius, B. 

lucorum, B. pascuorum, B. ruderarius and B. terrestris. 

The analysis of the preference of the certain bumblebees to the prevailing species of plants 

shows that B. pratorum and B. hypnorum prefer Chamaenerion angustifolium, B. hortorum – 

Trifolium pratense, B. ruderarius – Vicia cracca, B. pascuorum and B. veteranus – Trifolium 

pratense and Vicia cracca, B. lucorum – Vicia cracca, respectively. 

Among 30 most frequently visited species of plants 23 species (77%) have a corolla of pinkviolet 

range of colour, 6 species (20%) – yellow and 1 species – white. It is connected with 

the trichromatic system of colour vision of bumblebees. 

____________________________________ 

Taxonomy of the genus Eurypterna with biological notes on E. cremieri 

(Ichneumonidae, Hybrizontinae) 

Kazuhiko Konishi 

National Agricultural Research Center for Hokkaido Region, Japan; konishi@affrc.go.jp 

The genus Eurypterna is known from three species, cremieri (de Romand, 1838) from Europe 

and Japan, rufiventris Tobias, 1988 and angustifacialis Tobias, 1988 from Primorskiy Terr., 

Russia. They are relatively large in body size (more than 1 cm) and rarely collected. For 

distinguishing these three species, the following characters have been used: Ratio of width 

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and height of face; ratio of lengths of hind basitarsus and remainder of hind tarsus; body 

color; color of hind leg. 

In October, 2008, many individuals of E. cremieri were found flying around an old tree, 

Juglans mandshurica var. sieboldiana, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. A colony of Lasius 

nipponensis Forel, 1912 was exist in the trunk of the tree and an ant runway was formed from 

a hole on the trunk to the ground about 1.4 m long. The females of cremieri were hovering 

over the ant runway and the males were flying around the tree. Copulation and newly 

emerged adults escaping from the colony through the hole on trunk were observed. In October 

2009, oviposition was also observed at the same site. 

In total, 17 females and 42 males of E. cremieri were collected there in 2008 and 2009. 

Examined these specimens, it was revealed that the characters which have been used to 

distinguish species, such as the ratio of width and length of the face and the ratio of length of 

hind basitarsus and remainder of hind tarsus, are only the differences between female and 

male. Moreover, the male holotype of rufiventris, the female holotype of angustifacialis and 

some additional specimens of cremieri were examined. As the result, it was concluded that 

angustifacialis should be synonymized with cremieri. 

The biology of E. cremieri was revealed as follows by the observation from October 2008 to 

October 2009. In October, the host ant workers carry their larvae from the colony in tree trunk 

to the colony under ground. The female of cremieri hovers above the ant runway and when 

she finds a worker carrying a larva, she attacks it and lays one egg into the larva. In May, the 

ant workers carry their larvae from the ground to the tree trunk colony. And, newly emerged 

adults of cremieri escape from the colony in tree trunk from late September to October. Thus, 

the parasitoid is considered to grow in the colony in tree trunk. It is a mystery how this 

parasitoid grows up to such a big size, because the parasitoid is more than twice as long as its 

host in body length. 

____________________________________ 

The separation of cereal aphid parasitoids, Aphidius rhopalosiphi, A. uzbekistanicus and 

A. avenaphis (Hymenoptera: Aphidiinae), using mt-DNA (COI) sequences 

Katarina Kos 1 *, Željko Tomanovi 2 , Andjeljko Petrovi 3 , Jernej Jakše 1 & Stanislav Trdan 1 

1 University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Agronomy, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1111 Ljubljana, 

Slovenia; katarina.kos@bf.uni-lj.si 

2 University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, Institute of Zoology, Studentski Trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia 

3 Institute for Plant Protection and Environment, Department of Plant Pests, Banatska 33, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia 

Aphidius rhopalosiphi De Stefani and Aphidius uzbekistanicus Luzhetzki are a key solitary 

endoparasitoid species parasitizing cereal aphids in the West Palaearctic. Owing to similarity 

of morphological characters and a similar host range pattern where cereal aphids are 

concerned, the identification of these two species has shown to be very difficult. In the present 

study, we analyzed phylogenetic relationships of two close related Aphidius species, A. 

rhopalosiphi and A. uzbekistanicus on the basis of sequence information of a fragment of the 

mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Individuals were obtained from 12 

countries (Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, 

Montenegro, Iran, Pakistan, and USA) with known hosts and host plants. The purpose of our 

research was to confirm the presence distinct species on the basis of preliminary 

morphological determined characters, followed by molecular analysis. The value of molecular 

techniques in the identification of closely-related parasitoid species is discussed. 

____________________________________ 

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Rare giants – A review of Leptofoeninae (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) and discovery of 

the first Doddifoenus from Indomalaya 

Lars Krogmann 1* & Roger A. Burks 2 

1 Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany; krogmann.smns@naturkundemuseum-bw.de 

2 University of California, Riverside, USA; burks.roger@gmail.com 

Leptofoeninae is one of the smallest and least known of the 31 subfamilies of Pteromalidae 

(Chalcidoidea) recognized by Noyes (2010). Members of this subfamily are very rarely 

collected but morphologically are of special interest because of their very large body size and 

a number of character states that are uncommon in Chalcidoidea. Leptofoeninae comprises 

only two genera, Doddifoenus Bouek and Leptofoenus Smith (Noyes 2010). Leptofoenus 

Smith contains five extant species and is restricted to the New World. The first fossil species 

of Leptofoenus was recently described from Dominican amber dating back the age of the 

genus at least to the early Miocene. The genus Doddifoenus Bouek previously included two 

species restricted to Australasia (Papua New Guinea and Northeastern Australia). Here we 

present a remarkable new species of Doddifoenus, which was just recently described from 

Thailand and Laos (Krogmann & Burks 2009). Doddifoenus wallaci is the first species of the 

genus occurring west of Wallace’s Line, and one of the longest known chalcidoid wasps. All 

specimens of D. wallacei were collected from naturally fallen trees in primary tropical 

rainforests. No host records are known for Doddifoenus or any other Leptofoeninae, but they 

are presumed to be parasitoids of wood-boring insects. Results from a detailed anatomical 

study of the mesosomal skeleton of Doddifoenus are presented and compared with characters 

analyzed previously (Krogmann & Vilhelmsen 2006) for Pteromalinae, Cleonyminae and 

other Chalcidoidea. The metafurcal arms in Doddifoenus are basally fused, like in some 

Cleonyminae, but are always separated in Pteromalinae. This may indicate a plesiomorphic 

condition in Doddifoenus and some Cleonyminae relative to the condition in Pteromalinae. 

Other metafurcal characters of Doddifoenus are highly derived, like the complete fusion 

between metafurcal arms and metapleural apodemes, which has not been found in any other 

chalcidoid species. The phylogenetic relationships between Leptofoeninae and the other 

pteromalid subfamilies remains an open question that needs to be addressed by a broad 

phylogenetic analysis. 

References 

Engel, M.S. (2009) The first fossil leptofoenine wasp (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae): A new 

species of Leptofoenus in Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic. ZooKeys 13: 57-66. 

Krogmann, L. & Vilhelmsen, L. (2006) Phylogenetic implications of the mesosomal 

skeleton in Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera: Apocrita) – Tree searches in a jungle of homoplasy. 

Invertebrate Systematics 20: 615-674. 

Krogmann, L. & Burks, R.A. (2009) Doddifoenus wallacei, a new giant parasitoid 

wasp of the subfamily Leptofoeninae (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae), with a description of its 

mesosomal skeletal anatomy and a molecular characterization. Zootaxa 2194: 21-36. 

Noyes, J.S. (2010) Universal Chalcidoidea Database. World Wide Web electronic publication. 

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/ 

chalcidoids/ [accessed 30 March 2010]. 

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Contributions to knowledge of Pimplinae wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from 

Brazil 

Ana Paula da Silva Loffredo 1 *, Angélica Maria Penteado-Dias 1 , Jober Fernando Sobczak 1 & 

Marcelo de Oliveira Gonzaga 2 

1 Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; ap_loffredo@yahoo.com.br 

2 Universidade Federal de Uberlandia, Uberlandia, MG, Brasil 

Pimplinae is the most biologically diverse group of Ichneumonidae associated with a wide 

range of hosts, comprising about 1,500 species, most of them ecto- or endoparasitoids of 

holometabolous insects. Hymenoepimecis, Ticapimpla and Schizopyga pertaining to 

polysphincta genus-group, formed by 21 genera composed exclusively by koinobiont 

ectoparasitoids of spiders. The material was collected from their hosts, using Malaise traps, 

sweeping the vegetation and comes in São Paulo, and Bahia, States of Brazil. We described 

recently five new species of Hymenoepimecis from State of São Paulo: Hymenoepimecis 

silvanae, Hymenoepimecis jordanensis, Hymenoepimecis veranii, Hymenoepimecis japi, 

Hymenoepimecis sooretama. Hymenoepimecis veranii, was observed attacking and laying 

eggs on spiders Araneus omnicolor (Araneidae). After the attack, these parasitoids allow the 

hosts to continue their normal activities and the larvae do not kill or consume the hosts until 

they have pupate. Hymenoepimecis japi specimens were collected parasitizing females of 

spider Leucauge roseosignata (Tetragnathidae), Hymenoepimecis sooretama attached to the 

webs of spider Manogea porracea (Araneidae); the cocoon webs of host species are distinct 

from their normal webs. One female of Ticapimpla vilmae was obtained from Malaise trap, 

from Mata da Esperança in Ilhéus, State of Bahia, Brazil, 0-200 m of altitude. The specimen 

studied, presented some variation in coloration: the hind tibia more extensive blackish, as well 

the last two tergites of metasoma. Two females of Schizopyga moreirae were obtained from 

São Paulo State, Brazil, at 600 and 1200 m, using Malaise traps. This is the first record of 

Schizopyga from Brazil and a new species was described. All the material is deposited in the 

collection (DCBU) of Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Departamento de Ecologia e 

Biologia Evolutiva, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil. 





Brasileira). 

____________________________________ 

TIGER wasps – a preliminary review of the apoid wasp diversity in Thailand 

Volker Lohrmann 1 *, Lukas Kirschey 2 , Stefanie Krause 3 , Meike Schulze 4 & Michael Ohl 5 


Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany; 

1 volker.lohrmann@mfn-berlin.de, 2 lukas.kirschey@mfn-berlin.de, 3 stefanie.krause@mfn-berlin.de, 4 meikeschulze@web.de, 

5 michael.ohl@mfn-berlin.de 

Thailand is one of the countries in Southeast Asia with a remarkably rich but fragmentarily 

known insect diversity. Since its beginning in 2006, the Thailand biodiversity inventory, 

known as TIGER project, has resulted in about 5000 specimens of apoid wasps. Here we 

compare the preliminary results of our taxonomic analysis of this large sample with the 

published species diversity in Thailand. Until now, 155 species have been explicitly recorded 

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from Thailand, representing 42 genera, but more than 500 species in 55 genera from Thailand 

including neighboring countries. The species diversity is rather unevenly divided between the 

genera. Numerous genera are represented by a single species each, whereas a few markedly 

diverse genera comprise the majority of species. Highly diverse genera like Trypoxylon (about 

100 species known from the area) and Psenulus (about 50 species known) are not only diverse 

in terms of species numbers, but are also markedly abundant in the TIGER material. As an 

example, about 30% (more than 1500 specimens) of the TIGER specimens studied so far 

belong in Trypoxylon, representing a still unknown number of species. Not surprisingly, the 

portion of stem-nesting species among the TIGER material is markedly large, as is well 

known from other tropical habitats. This bias towards stem-nesting is also reflected in the 

small average body size, although this might partially be the result of the collecting method, 

since smaller species are more likely collected by Malaise traps than large species. We also 

found a large number of hitherto undescribed species. Such newly found species are more 

common in genera with smaller species, which are more likely to be overlooked without 

Malaise traps and other mass collecting methods. However, even among the largest sphecids 

from Thailand, which are members of the genus Sphex, we found undescribed species. As far 

as we can tell now, the total number of species and genera among the TIGER material will 

approach the total number of apoid wasp species and genera already recorded from Thailand, 

although we predict significant differences in the specific species composition. Of the 55 

genera reported from Thailand and its neighbouring countries, only 41 genera have been 

found in the TIGER samples so far. However, additional 14+ genera found by us have not 

been reported from this geographical region before. This increases the total number of known 

genera from Thailand by 30%. Although there are still many taxonomic problems to be 

solved, particularly in the highly diverse genera like Trypoxylon, it already became clear that 

the TIGER project significantly contributes to the knowledge of the wasp diversity in 

Thailand, with many implications for Southeast Asia. 

____________________________________ 

Hymenopterous parasitoids of safflower fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Iran 

Hosseinali Lotfalizadeh* & Mohammad-Hossein Kazemi 

Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran; 


The fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are the serious pests of safflower fields in Iran. 

Associated hymenopterous parasitoids (Hymenoptera) of them including nine species were 

listed and related data presented. They belong to the families Braconidae, Eulophidae, 

Ormyridae, Pteromalidae and Torymidae. Pronotalia carlinarum (Szelényi & Erdös) 

(Eulophidae) and Pteromalus albipennis Walker (Pteromalidae) were recorded for first time 

from Iran. Some descriptive and biological remarks are given on parasitoids. An illustrated 

identification key was provided for these species. 

____________________________________ 

The first braconid species record of subfamily Charmontinae from Iran: 

Charmon extensor (L.) (Hym., Braconidae: Charmontinae) 

Ashkan Masnady-Yazdinejad 

Insect Taxonomy Research Department, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, POBox: 

153951454 Iran; masnadi@iripp.ir; amsnadi@yahoo.com 

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During the study of natural enemies in apple orchards of Iran, one braconid species of the 

subfamily Charmontinae was collected and identified. This is the first record of this subfamily 

in Iran. Charmontinae with two genera Charmon and Charmontia is a worldwide subfamily 

and the species of these genera known as parasitoids of lepidopterous larvae. The apple 

orchard which in this braconid species was collected, was heavily infected by Grapholita 

molesta (Busck) (Lep., Tortricidae). It is Charmon extensor (Linnaeus, 1758), a new record 

for Iran. Disribution: Eastern Palaearctic, Europe, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and 

Ethiopian Regions, and Western Palaearctic. Material examined: West Azarbaijan, Orumiyeh, 

23.7.2009. Leg. A. Masnadi-Yazdinejad. 

____________________________________ 

The ichneumonid parasitoids (Hym., Ichneumonidae) of Yponomeuta malinellus Zeller 

(Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) in Iran 




The apple ermine moth, Yponomeuta malinellus Zeller, 1838 (Lep.: Yponomeutidae), is one 

of the most serious pest of the apple orchards and widely distributed throughout the temperate 

regions of the Palaearctic region. This univoltine defoliator of apple trees has some 

hymenopterous parasitoids, most important of which belong to the family Ichneumonidae. 

During the study of natural enemies of apple ermine moth in apple orchards of Iran, 9 

ichneumonid species from five subfamilies (Campopleginae , Pimplinae, Ichneumoninae, 

Cryptinae and Anomaloninae) were collected and identified, 2 species of which (marked with 

two asterisks) are newly recorded for Iran, and 3 species (marked with an asterisk) are 

recorded for the first time as ichneumonid parasitoids of Y. malinellus in Iran. The next 

parasitoid species were reared from Y. malinellus in Iran: 

Campopleginae. Campoletis ensator (Gravenhorst, 1829). Earlier recorded from Iran 

(Davachi & Shojaei 1968). Material examined: Ardabil, 31.4.2009, Leg. A. Masnadi- 

Yazdinejad. *Diadegma armillata (Gravenhorst, 1829). Earlier recorded from Iran (Masnadi- 

Yazdinejad et al. in press). Material examined: West Azarbaijan, Orumiyeh, 24.7.2009. Leg. 

A. Masnadi-Yazdinejad. 

Pimplinae. Itoplectis tunetana (Schmiedeknecht, 1914). Earlier recorded from Iran (Aubert 

1969). Material examined: Tehran, Karaj. 11.6.2009. Leg. A. Masnadi-Yazdinejad. Pimpla 

turionellae (Linnaeus, 1758). Earlier recorded from Iran (Kasparyan 1974). Material 

examined: Azarbayejan-e sharghi, Tabriz. 12.9.2009, Leg. A.Masnadi-Yazdinejad. *Pimpla 

contemplator (Muller, 1776). Earlier recorded from Iran (Kolarove & Ghahari 2006). Material 

examined: Tehran, Varamin. 14.7 2009. Leg. A. Masnadi-Yazdinejad. *Gregopimpla 

inquisitor (Scopoli, 1763). Earlier recorded from Iran (Masnadi-Yazdinejad & Jussila 2008). 

Material examined: Fars, Samirom, 11.8.2009. Leg. A.Masnadi-Yazdinejad. 

Ichneumoninae. *Herpestomus brunnicornis (Gravenhorst, 1829). Earlier recorded from Iran 

(Masnadi-Yazdinejad & Jussila 2008). Material examined: Fars, Goyom, 27.2.2010. Leg. M. 

Hooshmand. 

Cryptinae. **Gelis agilis (Fabricius, 1775). New record for Iran. Material examined: Fars, 

Ghasrodashat, 6.8.2009. Leg. K. Abootorabi. 

Anomaloninae. **Agrypon flavelatum (Gravenhorst, 1829). New record for Iran. Material 

examined: Mashhad, 11.6.2009. Leg. A. Abbasi. 

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Two newly recorded ichneumonid species as parasitoid wasp of Codling Moth (Cydia 

pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from Iran 




Codling moth (Cydia pomonella Linneaus, 1758) is a serious pest of pear and apple orchards. 

Two ichneumonid parasitoid species from Cremastinae and Pimplinae were reared and 

identified from the material collected in Iran. This is the first record of these two species for 

the Iranian fauna as well as a new record of the parasitoid of Cydia pomonella L in Iran. 

Cremastinae. Pristomerus armatus (Lucas, 1849). New record for Iran. Material examined: 

Fars, Eghlid, 10.6.2009. Leg. A. Abdollahi. 

Pimplinae. Dolichomitus messor (Gravenhorst, 1829). New record for Iran. Material 

examined: Fars, Shiraz, 11.9.2009. Leg. A.Masnadi-Yazdinejad. 

____________________________________ 

Comparison of parasitoid communities between insular and mainland populations of 

Pseudasphondylia neolitseae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in the Izu district, Japan 

Kazunori Matsuo 1 *, Makoto Tokuda 2 , Keizi Kiritani 3 , Misako Mishima 4 & Junichi Yukawa 5 

1 Entomological Laboratory, Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu 

University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan; k_matsuo@agr.kyushu-u.ac.jp 

2 Center for Research and Advancement in Higher Education, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan 

3 Futo, Ito, Shizuoka 413-0231, Japan 

4 Kyushu University Museum, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan 

5 Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan 

The Izu Islands consist of volcanic islands located south of the Izu Peninsula, Honshu, Japan, 

extending for about 230 km from north to south, and have unique biota of insects, terrestrial 

reptiles and plants. In 2009 and 2010, we surveyed gall midge populations and associated 

parasitoids in these areas. Parasitoid communities were compared among different islands and 

the Izu Peninsula for Pseudasphondylia neolitseae that induces leaf galls on Neolitsea sericea 

(Lauraceae) and some other gall midges of Asphondyliini (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) In 2009, 

two hymenopteran ectoparasitoids, Bracon tamabae (Braconidae) and Sigmophora sp. 

(Eulophidae), and one endoparasitoid, Gastrancistrus sp. (Pteromalidae), were observed to 

attack P. neolitseae in the Izu Peninsula and on northern islands. On southern islands such as 

Miyake and Hachijo Islands, only B. tamabae was found. B. tamabae is polyphagous and has 

a very long adult life span (up to three months). In contrast, the Gastrancistrus sp. is 

monophagous and has a relatively short adult life span. Because of such differences, B. 

tamabae might be able to colonize these islands easier than Gastrancistrus sp. At the moment, 

reasons why Sigmophora sp. is not distributed on southern islands are not known. Molecular 

analysis in 2009 revealed that B. tamabae has a mitochondrial DNA haplotype that is 

common among populations through out localities surveyed except the most southern and 

distant island, Hachijo, where another haplotype exists. In contrast, P. neolitseae has a 

common mitochondrial DNA haplotype in all localities surveyed including Hachijo Island. 

This suggests that the Hachijo population of B. tamabae has derived from a place that is 

different from distribution range of P. neolitseae in the Izu Peninsula and northern Izu 

Islands. In addition to P. neolitseae, parasitoid communities of the following gall midge 

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species were surveyed: Asteralobia sasakii inducing axillary bud galls on Ilex crenata 

(Aquifoliaceae) and Illiciomyia yukawai inducing leaf galls on Illicium anisatum (Illiciaceae). 

____________________________________ 

Systematics and diversity of oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) 

of Panama 

Enrique Medianero 1 & José Luis Nieves-Aldrey 2* 

1 Programa Centroamericano de Maestría en Entomología, Vicerectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, 

Universidad de Panamá, C.P. 0824 Panamá; emedianero@ancon.up.ac.pa 

2 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Dpto. Biodiversidad. C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 

Madrid, Spain; aldrey@mncn.csic.es 

The great part of the representatives of the family Cynipidae are grouped within the tribe 

Cynipini or oak gallwasps. There are about 1000 described species distributed mainly across 

the Holarctic Region. From the Neotropical region only 13 Cynipini species have been 

recorded, although actual evidence is how that the group could also be species rich and 

phylogenetically diverse in the neotropics. The aim of this work was to perform a taxonomical 

and biological study of the gall-inducing Cynipini on Quercus of Panama, where only one 

species was previously recorded. Field data were taken from samplings made between 

December 2007 and May 2009 in nineteen sites of the western of Panama. Eight of the nine 

Quercus species recorded in this country were surveyed monthly: Q. salicifolia, Q. benthamii, 

Q. cortesii, Q. gulielmi-treleasei, Q. humboldtii, Q. bumelioides, Q. lancifolia and Q. insignis. 

The preliminary identification found 10 genera of the tribe Cynipini. Sixty three morphotypes 

of galls induced by cynipids associated with six species of Quercus were collected, 53% of 

the galls were found on leaves, 37% on stems, 4% on acorns, 4% on buds and 1% on catkins. 

Adult gall-inducers were reared from 43 gall morphotypes (68% of total) of whom 25% 

corresponded to a sexual generation. One new genus of oak gall wasp has been detected and it 

is being studied. The identified genera and its species-richness were: Amphibolips Reinhard (3 

species), Andricus Hartig (12 species), Bassettia Ashmead (1), Callirhytis Frster (1), Cynips 

Linnaeus (4), Disholcaspis Dalla Torre & Kieffer (2), Loxaulus Mayr (1 specie), Neuroterus 

Hartig (8 ), Odontocynips Kieffer (2) and Trigonaspis Hartig (8). Only two species previously 

recorded from the Neotropical region were identified (Andricus championi Cameron and 

Odontocynips hansoni Pujade-Villar). The other 95% of the studied species represent new 

undescribed species. The Quercus species with the greatest diversity of galls was Quercus 

bumelioides (Sect. Quercus), with 33 different galls associated. On the distribution of 

Cynipidae in Panama, the preliminary results showed a high Cynipini species richness (but in 

low densities), concentrated in several species of Quercus relatively extended in areas of the 

western of Panama, while that presence of cynipids in others Quercus species, more scarcely 

or locally distributed, was almost null. 

____________________________________ 

A preliminary study on the gallwasp fauna of Kemaliye (Turkey), with a new record for 

Turkey (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

Özlem Mete* & A. Demirsoy 

Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, 06800 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey; 

ozlemmete83@gmail.com 

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The members of the Cynipidae (Hymenoptera) family, also known as the gallwasps, induce 

some of the most structurally complex plant galls. In this study, we have examined the 

gallwasps and their galls collected from Kemaliye (Turkey) and its surrounding. Kemaliye is 

located on the Anatolian Diagonal which separates the Eastern and Western parts of Turkey 

by a certain division, and therefore has a very interesting topography and plant composition 

which combines various faunistic and floristic components of Anatolia (such as 

Mediterranean, Pontic, Eucsin, Turano-Eremial, Alpine and even African). In this study 

which was carried out in Kemaliye and its surrounding, it was aimed to contribute to the 

further studies concerning this subject. Field trips were made on September and November of 

2007 and May, June, July, September and October of 2008. During the field trips, gall 

specimens which belong to the family Cynipidae which develop on host plants were collected 

from the genus Quercus (Fagaceae) and the species Rosa canina (Rosaceae). At the end of the 

study, 24 species which belong to 5 genera were determined. Moreover, Andricus moreae was 

found to be a new record for Turkey. 

____________________________________ 

A second European species of Netomocera Bouek (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae: 

Diparinae), with notes on other diparines 

Mircea-Dan Mitroiu 

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I 20A, 700505 Iasi, Romania; 

mircea.mitroiu@uaic.ro 

The genus Netomocera was described by Bouek in 1954, having as type species N. setifera 

Bouek (orig. design. and monotypy), which is known to occur mainly in south-eastern 

Europe. Since then other six species have been described, three Afrotropical, one Nearctic, 

one Oriental, and one Australian. Thus, the newly described species is the second one 

recorded in Europe; it was collected in southern Romania and it most closely resembles N. 

setifera. The submacropterous female can be separated from that of setifera mainly by its 

longer gaster, the first tergite occupying only half of the gaster length, while the macropterous 

male in having larger eyes and thinner antennae. Both sexes significantly differ from setifera 

in body coloration, especially the males which are partly reddish-yellow and not completely 

black. An illustrated key to separate the two species is given, as well as distributional notes on 

other diparines. 

____________________________________ 

Calesinae: morphological examination and molecular phylogenetics of an enigmatic 

chalcidoid taxon 

Jason L. Mottern* & John M. Heraty 

University of California, Riverside, CA, USA; jmott002@student.ucr.edu; john.heraty@ucr.edu 

Although the monophyly of some groups of Chalcidoidea is strongly supported by 

morphological and/or molecular synapomorphies, higher-level relationships within the 

superfamily remain uncertain. Several families are regarded as either paraphyletic or even 

polyphyletic. This uncertainty regarding sister-group relationships, combined with 

hyperdiversity of form and function, has left some chalcid groups unplaced into higher 

taxonomic categories Establishing relationships within Chalcidoidea is further hindered by a 

dearth of comprehensive morphological studies, either across character systems or across 

taxa. Calesinae (Howard) is a small group of Australian and Neotropical parasitoids of 

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whiteflies, comprising a single genus, Cales. Historically, the Calesinae have been included 

within the Trichogrammatidae and Mymaridae, though they are most often associated with the 

Aphelinidae. In addition, they share some features with the Eulophidae. The subfamily is 

currently unplaced within the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Here we present a detailed 

morphological examination and a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the three described 

species in addition to a newly discovered species from New Zealand. The apparently 

apomorphic characteristics of the head, mouthparts, antennae, wings, mesosoma and genitalia, 

are weighed against characteristics suggesting affinities with established chalcidoid families. 

In addition, we provide a species-level molecular phylogeny of the group, suggesting a 

possible cryptic species complex within the new world species, Cales noacki. 

____________________________________ 

Molecular Phylogeny of Eucharitidae 

Elizabeth Murray*, John M. Heraty, David Hawks & Andrew Carmichael 

Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, CA, USA; elizabeth.murray@email.ucr.edu; 

john.heraty@ucr.edu 

Within Hymenoptera, eucharitids comprise the most numerous and diverse group of eusocial 

insect parasitoids. Fifty-three genera of Eucharitidae are distributed worldwide in nearly every 

zoogeographical region. Phylogenetic relationships have previously been analyzed within a 

cladistic framework using morphological character coding, genetic markers, and a 

concatenated ‘total evidence’ data matrix. Morphology, molecules, and shared life history 

traits unite the Eucharitidae as a demonstrably monophyletic group, with three subfamilies: 

Gollumiellinae, Oraseminae, and Eucharitinae. However, many lower-level relationships are 

unclear and vary according to dataset and analytical method. We present a molecular 

phylogeny based on an expanded matrix of over 375 taxa from both the Eucharitidae and 

Perilampidae. Molecular evidence from a combined-gene dataset (28S-D2-D3, 18S, COI and 

COII) is used to assess relationships. 

We present an updated hypothesis of congruence between host and parasitoid using the most 

recent ant phylogenetic relationships. Eucharitidae are known to attack six subfamilies of 

ants, but we focus on the host poneromorph ant subfamilies. Though the host ant patterns are 

predictive among the eucharitid groups, there have been a number of instances of 

hypothesized host-switching. Evolution of ant host associations will be considered in light of 

the new eucharitid phylogeny. 

____________________________________ 

The effects of prey abundance on nesting behavior of solitary wasp Symmorphus 

allobrogus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) 

Žaneta Nevronyt¹, Eduardas Budrys¹ , ²* & Anna Budrien¹ 



It has been demonstrated that species richness and diversity of trap-nesting Hymenoptera 

community are sensitive to a wide range of human-caused environmental changes, therefore 

this community may be considered a potential bioindicator of anthropogenous impacts at 

habitat or landscape scale. We may expect that, in addition to presence and abundance, some 

other parameters like body size, sex ratio and nest size can reflect the effects of environmental 

changes on the state of species populations. The current experimental study aimed to ascertain 

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whether progeny size, sex ratio and number of cells per nest depend on prey abundance in the 

environment and may be used in estimation of wasp population state. 

We conducted a laboratory experiment with inseminated females of Symmorphus allobrogus 

– abundant solitary wasp species in Lithuania. Each female were kept in a transparent plastic 

5 litre container with food (honey solution), water, nesting places (reed stem internodes) and 

material for building cell partitions (clay) available. Wasps were provided with different 

amount of prey: 5, 10 or 20 specimens of leaf-beetle Gonioctena quinquepunctata or 

Linaeidea aenea larvae per day. A total of 37 wasps were used in the experiment. The content 

of 154 nests produced during the experiment was examined. 

Wasp females responded to a higher amount of available prey by building nests with a higher 

number of brood cells. The wasps that received 20 prey items per day produced 

approximately twice as many cells per nest (3.9 ± 0.4) as the wasps receiving 5 prey items per 

day (2.1 ± 0.1). The amount of available prey did not affect the progeny size: both male and 

female progeny had the same average body mass irrespective of the number of prey 

specimens given to the mother wasp. Results of our experiment did not confirm the 

hypothesis that a higher availability of provision would lead to a higher proportion of the 

larger (female) sex in the progeny produced by the mother wasp: the proportion of female 

progeny per nest was approximately equal in the nests produced by wasps receiving 5 and 20 

prey items per day. However, the wasps that were provided with 10 prey items per day 

produced nests with a significantly lower share of female progeny. The reasons of such Ushaped 

dependence of the proportion of female progeny in a nest on the amount of prey 

remain unclear. 

____________________________________ 

Parasitization of Tetrastichus brontispae, a potential biological control agent of the 

coconut hispine beetle Brontispa longissima 

Huong Thi Nguyen 1 , Ryoko T. Ichiki 2 , Shun-Ichiro Takano 1,2 & Satoshi Nakamura 1 * 

1 Japan International Research Centre for Agricultural Sciences, 1-1 Ohwashi, Tsukuba, 305-8686 Japan; 

s.nakamura@affrc.go.jp 

2 Kyushu Univeristy, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan 

The gregarious endoparasitoid Tetrastichus brontispae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) is one of 

important natural enemies of the serious pest, the coconut hispine beetle Brontispa longissima 

(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) which recently invaded and causes serious damages on coconut 

palm plants in Southeast Asia. To understand the ability of the parasitoid as the control agent 

in the region, development time at different temperatures, oviposition, superparasitism and 

influence of host age on parasitization of this parasitoid were investigated in the laboratory 

using last instar larvae and pupae of B. longissima as the host. Total development time from 

oviposition to adult emergence decreased as temperature increased from 22˚C to 30˚C. No 

parasitoid completed development at 31˚C. Temperatures had no effect on the sex ratio of 

parasitoid offspring. Host age affected parasitization which was high on prepupa and day 0-1 

pupae. Findings of this study provide the valuable information for optimizing rearing 

procedures of the parasitoid and we discuss probabilities to use this species as a biological 

control agent of the beetle. 

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An inordinate fondness of beetles? Even more fond of microhymenoptera! 

John S. Noyes 

Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, England, UK; jsn@nhm.ac.uk 

Asked what could be inferred about the work of the Creator from a study of His works, the 

British scientist J.B.S. Haldane is reported to have replied, that He has "an inordinate 

fondness for beetles." It is true that more species of beetles have been catalogued than any 

other group with estimates of up to 400000 species (about 20% of all living organisms) 

having been described to date and on the face of it Haldane’s statement would seem to be 

correct. The second largest group currently being the Hymenoptera with about 130000 

described species. Yet, an extrapolation of the British fauna, the best known in the world, 

suggests that beetles may represent only the third largest group (ca 5000 British species) well 

behind Diptera (ca 6950 species)and Hymenoptera (ca 7100 species. Recent surveys using 

sweep net sampling in the forests of Costa Rica supports this view. For instance, one six hour 

sample provided an incredible 1286 species of microhymenoptera compared with only 504 

species of beetles. Similar differences were found at 8 other sites at various altitudes from 75 

m to 1400 m across Costa Rica. At all sites the Chalcidoidea alone represented more species 

than the Coleoptera and was by far the largest group both in terms of numbers of species and 

numbers of individuals, surpassing even ants. This poster presents the detailed breakdown of 

all families collected in the survey using a screen sweep-net fitted with a 4 mm screen which 

allowed only smaller individuals (



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

by the methods used on our knowledge of biodiversity. The few old specimens and the lack of 

more recent representation in collections clearly indicate that R. nielseni is not a real novelty 

to the country. Rather, it had passed unnoticed due to difficulties with collecting adults with 

traditional methods and due to specimens being confused with another similarly coloured 

species. A new version of the Red List of threatened species in Finland according to IUCN 

criteria will be published by the end of 2010. Here, the species of the Polysphincta group of 

genera will be evaluated for the first time. The methods used in the concerned rearing project 

have provided invaluable data for the evaluation of R. nielseni and several other species of 

this group. Our work shows that the choice of collection method can significantly affect the 

results. 

____________________________________ 

The chalcidoid parasitoids of Coccoidea in southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey 

nanç Özgen* & Halil Bolu 

Plant Protection Department of Agricultural Faculty of Dicle University, Diyarbakır, Turkey; 


Southeastern Anatolia Region in terms of diversity of cultivated plants is an important area in 

Turkey. Depending on the diversity of cultivated plants, significant yield losses are due to the 

most harmful organisms. In between pests, species in the superfamily Coccoidea play an 

important role. The undamaged nature of the region, free from chemical pesticides, supporting 

several natural enemies of Coccoidea that were recognized in our studies, especially 

chalcidoid parasitoids which play an important role in the population dynamics of scale 

insects. Since 2000 we investigated the chalcidoid parasitoid fauna of Coccoidea of the 

Southeastern Anatolia region. Parasitoids might be important biological agents in controlling 

scale insects. 

____________________________________ 

New systematics of Australian Thrasorinae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae) with 

a description of two new genera and a new subfamily 

Jordi Paretas-Martínez 1 , Claudia Restrepo-Ortiz 1 , Matthew Buffington 2 & Juli Pujade-Villar 1 * 

1 University of Barcelona, Faculty of Biology, Department of Animal Biology, Avda. Diagonal 645, 08028 – 

Barcelona, Spain; jordi.paretas.martinez@gmail.com, claudiaximenaro@gmail.com, jpujade@ub.edu 

2 Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, c/o NMNH, Smithsonian Institution, 10th & Constitution Ave 

NW. PO Box 37012 MRC-168, Washington DC 20013, USA; matt.buffington@ars.usda.gov 

The Thrasorinae are a stem group of Figitidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea) that are associated 

with galls of other wasps (Cynipoidea and Chalcidoidea) on various trees and bushes, being 

not inquilines but rather parasitoids of the gall inducers or some other hymenopteran 

inhabitants in the galls with which they are associated. This makes this group a very important 

focus of study in order to elucidate the evolutionary history of the Figitidae in particular and 

the Cynipoidea as a whole, with its different life strategies: entomophagy and phytophagy. 

The systematics of the Thrasorinae has always been problematic: two new figitid subfamilies, 

the Plectocynipinae (2007) and Euceroptrinae (2008), have been erected recently to include 

some genera previously included in the Thrasorinae. A new systematics of Australian 

Thrasorinae is proposed herein. The genus Mikeius Buffington is transferred from Thrasorinae 

to Mikeiinae Paretas-Martínez & Pujade-Villar n. subf and a new species of Mikeius is 

described. Two new genera of Thrasorinae are erected to include species previously included 

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in Mikeius (M. schauffi Buffington and M. neumanni Buffington) and Amblynotus (A. 

pilosiscutum Girault). A new species of Thrasorus Weld is described. A phylogenetic analysis 

including all these new taxa and all genera previously included in the Thrasorinae is given. 

____________________________________ 

New records of Braconidae (Hymenoptera) genera from Brazil in the state of São Paulo 

Angélica Maria Penteado-Dias 

Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; angelica@ufscar.br 

The knowledge of the family Braconidae in Brazil is largely incomplete due to lack of 

regional studies and the taxonomic complexity of this group.The diversity of the Braconidae 

in Brazil is estimated at a much higher than is currently known. From the thirty-four 

subfamilies of Braconidae recognized in the New World, twenty-eight of them have been 

reported from Brazil. In an effort to understand the richness and distribution of the Braconidae 

family in Brazil and specifically in the State of São Paulo, many collections have been made 

using Malaise traps and sweeping the vegetation. At least 191 from the 341 genera recorded 

from the Neotropical region are recorded from Brazil. This is a high number given that the 

number of genera recorded for Canada and United States is approximately 240. First records 

are reported for some rare genera of Braconidae in Brazil and in the State of São Paulo based 

on material deposited in Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil. Those 

genera are: Andesipolis (Rhysipolinae), Topaldios (Helconinae), Paphanus (Sigalphinae) and 

Syntretus (Euphorinae). New species to those genera are presented and figured. Andesipolis 

occurs exclusively in South America with distribution restricted to the Andes. This is the first 

record for the genus outside of this mountain range. 





Brasileira). 

____________________________________ 

What is “the news” about the institute of studies on parasitoid Hymenoptera from 

southeastern Brazil – HYMPAR-SUDESTE ? 

Angélica Maria Penteado-Dias* & Manoel Martins Dias Filho 

Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; angelica@ufscar.br, manoelmd@ufscar.br 

The HYMPAR-SUDESTE is an initiative of a group of researchers working in the Brazilian 

Southeastern region, in order to integrate the conservation and sustainable development 

efforts. The acquired scientific knowledge of biodiversity will be applied to education and 

economic activities as agriculture and ecotourism and to the development of mechanisms for 

providing environmental services. The specific objectives are to estimate the number of 

species of Hymenoptera parasitoids at each selected site of the Southeastern region of Brazil, 

contributing to the knowledge of the geographical distribution of the taxonomic group 

studied; implement taxonomic collections of parasitoid Hymenoptera; identify areas of high 

incidence of endemic species for wildlife study; identify biotic interactions, involving 

different trophic levels; classify the studied reserve fragments in relation to their fragility in 

relation to biodiversity loss, contribute to the establishment of priority areas for conservation. 

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Structure and integrate projects, especially those concerned with the sustainability of the 

ecosystems studied, in order to reduce the fragmentation of existing forests indicating 

conservation priorities and promoting reforestation in rural properties; strength partnerships 

with public governmental agencies and non-governmental and private agribusiness institutes 

in the context of the integrated ecological knowledge; maintain a constant flow of information 

subsidizing the establishment of projects for work optimization; promote the interaction 

between research institutions, private companies, schools and the community; establish pilot 

procedures in environmental education and continuing education in areas adjacent to reserves 

in order to spread the knowledge and experiences that promote the protection of biodiversity 

and a decrease in anthropic pressure on the conservation units; define environmental 

indicators allowing the assessment and implementation of possible payment for 

environmental services with the maintenance of biodiversity; provide knowledge for 

implementation of environmental laws; establish human resources trained in the major issues 

on biodiversity, involving cooperation in national and international levels. Since last May, 

2009, using 150 Malaise traps during 12 months in 32 localities we have collected several 

thousands of insects; the Ichneumonoidea and Chalcidoidea are mounted on pins to be 

identified. The most common are the Microgastrinae (Braconidae), the Campopleginae 

(Ichneumonidae) and the Eulophidae (Chalcidoidea). Several rare genera have been collected. 

We have found new trophic interactions between Hymenoptera parasitoids and Lepidoptera, 

in special to Geometridae species. Several training courses to study the Hymenoptera 

parasitoids were given, involving under graduated and graduated students. Several papers, 

Master dissertations and PhD thesis are been prepared and published. 





Brasileira). 

____________________________________ 

Diversity of Alysiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in protected areas from the 

Comunidad Valenciana, Spain 

Francisco Javier Peris-Felipo*, Jose Vicente Falcó-Garí, M.T. Oltra-Moscardó & R. Jiménez Peydró 

Entomology and Pest Control Laboratory, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, 

University of Valencia, Spain; Francisco.peris@uv.es 

The study of Hymenoptera parasitoids has a great interest from the point of view of 

biodiversity and conservation because the interactions with their hosts allow the maintenance 

of insect populations in balance in the ecosystem. 

A sampling work with Malaise traps from April 2004 to December 2007 was done in three 

protected natural areas of the Comunidad Valenciana (Spain): Natural Park of Las Lagunas of 

La Mata-Torrevieja, Natural Park of Font Roja and Natural Park of La Tinença Benifassà. 

Each of these areas shows particular climatic conditions. 

In this communication we analyze the richness of the genera belonging to Alysiinae subfamily 

and we compare the similarity of the sampled areas. 

This work was supported by the research project CGL-2004-02711, cofinanced by the Ministry of Science and 

Technology and the European Union (European Funds for Regional Development). 

____________________________________ 

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Habitat distribution patterns of Alysiinae community (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in a 

forest reserve in Spain 

Francisco Javier Peris-Felipo, Jose Vicente Falcó-Garí, M.T. Oltra-Moscardó & R. Jiménez Peydró 



Alysiinae braconids are a wide subfamily composed of 1500 species world-wide described. 

Two tribes are recognized: Alysiini and Dacnusini. The members of Alysiini parasite a wide 

range of cyclorrapha hosts while the members of Dacnusini are almost exclusively confined to 

leaf-miners hosts, such as Agromyzidae, Ephydridae and Chloropidae. 

The capture of these Hymenoptera was done during a period of two years using Malaise traps 

in the Reserve of Artikutza placed in the Natural Park of Peñas de Aia (Navarra). This natural 

area contains two habitats: mixed forest and beech forest. 

The collected specimens are analyzed to know if Alysiinae community has a preference 

selection in the habitat distribution. When analyzing the samples, it is possible to see that the 

diversity is higher in the mixed forest than in the beech forest. And, it is possible to 

distinguish a significant difference between habitats in relation with the particular community 

of Alysiinae. 

____________________________________ 

Little known facts about a well known hymenopteran: on the field life history of Nasonia 

vitripennis (Walker, 1836) (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) 

Ralph S. Peters & Rudolf Abraham 

Zoologisches Museum Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany; 

ralph.peters@uni-hamburg.de; abraham@zoologie.uni-hamburg.de 

The gregarious parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis is easy to rear on puparia of various flies and 

has become a well established laboratory model organism over the last few decades. Its use 

has found its temporary pinnacle in the recent publication of the complete genome of this 

species and its sibling taxa N. giraulti and N. longicornis. 

However, data are missing on its natural field life history in terms of e.g. host finding, host 

range, habitat choice and phenology. We investigated on some of these aspects over the last 

years and present in this poster a preliminary synopsis of our work. 

N. vitripennis lives in nests of some bird species. Those nests are its primary habitat and the 

species can be found there in high quantities. We show its position in a birds’ nest food web 

along with its main field hosts and few other much less specialised parasitoid species. The 

field hosts are mainly bloodsucking Protocalliphora spp. and necrophagous Calliphora vicina 

(Calliphoridae) and to a lesser proportion saprophagous Potamia littoralis (Muscidae). Earlier 

results from experimental placing of sentinel hosts corroborate the assumption that to a far 

extent N. vitripennis specialises on birds’ nests: It only parasitizes hosts in greater heights and 

does not parasitize hosts in empty nest boxes. Also, the synchronisation of the birds breeding 

season and the phenology of N. vitripennis is well known. In olfactometer tests we were able 

to show that N. vitripennis females largely use olfactory cues of the birds nest material in their 

host finding process. 

We also present results on the actual and the potential host range of the species as well as 

fecundity and sex ratio data from field hosts of different size. 

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With these and future studies we hope to contribute to a more complete understanding of the 

model Nasonia merging genetics, genomics, experimental studies and field life history traits. 

____________________________________ 

Confirmation of the species rank of Torymus macrurus (Föerster, 1859) 

(Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Torymidae) 

Irinel E. Popescu 

Department of Zoology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, “Al. I. Cuza” University, Iasi, Romania; 

irinellus@yahoo.com 

Förster (1859) described just the female of this species, as Syntomaspis macrurus, from a 

single specimen obtained from galls on Quercus pedunculata in Hungary. The holotype of 

this species is apparently lost and the status of this species was “species inquirendae” for long 

time. Erdös (1960) mentioned that there no material in museum from Budapest. Grissell 

(1995) enumerate this species as Torymus macrura in his world catalogue of Toryminae. 

Graham & Gijswijt (1998) mentioned that they could not find any material in 

Naturhistorisches Museum from Vienna in 1993 and they mentioned that this species was 

reared in Poland but don’t offer any other information (the paper, the author). They don’t 

include the species in the key of the European species of the genus Torymus but they discuss 

this species in a special chapter of “species inquirendae”. Zavada (2003) placed this species in 

the cyaneus species group and mentioned at the materials examined 1 1 obtained from 

galls of Cynips quercusfolii (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in Moldavia (collected by Plugaru in 

1963), 1 from the same host obtained in Ukraine (collected by Rayevsky in 1973) and other 

6 from the same country (collected by Diakonchuk in 1974), all this materials belongs to 

the collection of the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of National Academy of Sciences of 

Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine). Popescu (2003) mentioned T. macrurus also from Cynips quercusfolii 

in Romania. Zerova & Seryogina (2003) placed this species in the Syntomaspis subgenus 

of the Torymus genus and mentioned it from Biorhiza pallida. Zerova et al. (2003) mentioned 

specimens of T. macrurus obtained from C. quercusfolii being in the collection of 

Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, collected in 1963, 1973 and 1974 years. 

I obtained 3 from galls of Cynips quercusfolii (L.) (agamic generation) on leaves of Quercus 

sp. collected on 04.2000 at Repedea, Iai county, Romania and 1 from the same host and 

locality, galls collected on 29.03.2006. The species is closely related to Torymus cyaneus and 

differ mainly by longer ovipositor. I describe the species using drawings, SEM and photonic 

microscopy, giving a modern description of this apparently rare species with questionable 

status through time. 

____________________________________ 

The maxillo-labial complex in scelionid wasps 

(Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea) 

Ovidiu Alin Popovici 

“Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of Biology, Iasi, Romania; popovici_alin_ovidiu@yahoo.com 

The parasitoid wasp superfamily Platygastroidea, traditionally divided into two families, the 

Platygastridae and the Scelionidae (e.g., Masner 1993, 1995; Austin et al. 2005), is the third 

largest of the parasitic superfamilies after the Ichneumonoidea and Chalcidoidea and 

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represents some 4460 described species worldwide (Austin et al. 2005), but the world fauna is 

estimated to be about 10000 species (Masner 1993). 

Characters of MLC, like any morphological and anatomical characters are an important 

source of data in systematic and taxonomic research. Quicke (1993, in Winson 1999) defines 

a taxonomic character as “any physical structure (macroscopic, microscopic or molecular) or 

behavioral system that can have more than one form (character state), the variation in which 

potentially provides phylogenetic information.” The mouthparts throughout the orders of 

Insecta are composed of a set of homologous components rich in variation, so, from this 

reason, they should provide excellent data for phylogenetic studies (Krenn 2007). 

The aim of this study is to present a clear description of the MLC in scelionids, proper 

recognition of homologous characters with other hymenopterans and of synonymies between 

terms used by different authors. The second goal is to emphasize the peculiarity of MLC in 

scelionids and establish the ground plan character states for scelionids and relate them to 

structures observed in other hymenoptera. Finally, we seek to provide a precise nomenclature 

for MLC in scelionids for use in systematics, and thus to contribute to further advances in our 

understanding of the taxonomy and interrelationships of its constituent groups. 

To emphasis the peculiarity of MLC in scelionids, we made a comparison between MLC in 

Sparasion (Scelionidae: Platygastroidea) and MLC in Helorus (Heloridae: Proctotrupoidea), 

Proctotrupes (Proctotrupidae: Proctotrupoidea) and Belyta (Diapriidae: Proctotrupoidea). 

These three genera were chosen for comparison for 2 reasons: (1) superfamily 

Proctotrupoidea is, at least apparently, very old (Masner, 1993) so, we have the chance to 

identify for each character the plesiomorphic state; (2) until relatively recently (Masner 1956; 

Masner 1993), Proctotrupoidea and Platygastroidea were regarded as a single superfamily and 

we can see if characters of MLC are valuable in the high level classification of 

microhymenoptera, or eventually, if at the level of MLC there are characters what could show 

a link between these two superfamilies. 

Characters of MLC like: degree of sclerotization, shape of cardo, shape of stipes, position of 

maxillary palpus and position of galea and lacinia, relationships between galea and lacinia, 

shape of prementum seems to confirm the idea of Masner (1993) that Proctotrupoiea consists 

of two natural units, one comprises Pelecinidae, Vanhorniidae, Proctotrupidae, Heloridae, 

Peradeniidae and Roproniidae and the second comprises Monomachidae, Austroniidae and 

Diapriidae. At level of MLC there are more similarities between Helorus and Proctotrupes 

than between any of these genera and Belyta. Furthermore, characters of MLC in Belyta look 

intermediary between (Helorus + Proctotrupes) and Sparasion. It seems that the detailed 

study of MLC could provide important charters for the higher-level taxonomy of 

Proctotrupoidea s. l. 

____________________________________ 

First record of Dicopus minutissimus Enock (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) from the 

European mainland 

Emilian Pricop 

“Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I 20a, 700505 Iai, Romania; 

pricopemilian@yahoo.com 

The genus Dicopus Enock 1909, belongs to the family Mymaridae and it is considered one of 

the most rarely collected fairy flies. The species belonging to this genus are tiny parasitoids 

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(0.2 -0.4 mm). From Europe, three species have been described: Dicopus minutissimus Enock, 

1909, Dicopus citri Mercet, 1912 and ?Dicopus cervus Morley, 1930. The species described 

in 1930 by C. Morley as D. cervus obviously does not belong to the family Mymaridae 

(Ogloblin 1956). 

It is the first time when Dicopus minutissimus is found on the European mainland; the species 

is known until now only from England; the genus Dicopus Enock is also mentioned for the 

first time from Romania. We illustrate the species distribution, the morphology of: wings, 

antennas in male and female - head, thorax and abdomen. Also we describe the male genitalia 

and give the biometry for some females and males. The taxonomic status of the specimen 

belonging to Dicopus found by Baquero & Jordana (2002) in Spain should be confirmed in 

relation to Dicopus minutissimus Enock, as the clave and the last funicle articles are longer 

and thinner than in Enock’s original description. Enock (1909) in his original description 

reveals a very important feature that the antennal club is equal in length to the 6 th , 7 th , 8 th , and 

9 th antennal segments combined, a feature that is found in our specimens. Mercet (1912) noted 

that the species D. citri has wider wings, compared with D. minutissimus, a species with 

narrow wings and also the last three articles of the female antenna have different proportions 

between the two species. Beside some important - genus features: scape with 2 or 3 setaceous 

teeth, mandibles projecting downward and away from the head (bladelike), we also mention 

some new features for this genus and species: antennal clava in females has a gap (gouge-like) 

to the distal end, with a modified trichoid sensilla; hind tibia with an apical tooth, and also a 

propodeal carina as an overturned “Y” is also present (probably different in each species). 

Male genitalia is almost cylindrical, (phallobase united to aedeagus), long, narrowed proximal 

and distal, not strongly sclerotized, with long parameres and with long and strongly 

sclerotized volsellar digiti, apparently each with three hooklets. Our material was collected 

during 2008-2009 from different locations found in the North-Eastern part of Romania – 

Bistritei Mountains, and it is preserved in a personal collection belonging to Emilian Pricop. 

____________________________________ 

Parasitoids wasps reported on willow aphids in Iran 

Solmaz Rahemi 1 , S.E. Sadeghi 2* , E. Rakhshani 3 , S. Moharramipour 4 , M. Shojai 1 & S. Zeinali 2 

1 Department of Entomology, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran; solmaz.rahemi@gmail.com 

2 Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands of Iran, P.O.Box: 13185-116, Iran 

3 Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Iran 

4 Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran 

Willows are considered as the most important elements for park design; willow extract is 

widely used in various medicinal industries in Iran. Thus, studies on willow pests and the 

biotic factors influence the pest populations are essential for the integrated pest management. 

Several aphid species reported as pests of willow trees in Iran, which cause direct damage to 

the plants and also serve as vectors for different pathogens. Next aphid species on willows are 

reported from Iran: Aphis farinosa Gmel, Cavariella aquatica (Gill. & Bragg), C. aegopodii 

(Scop.), C. cicutae (Koch), C. archangelicae (Scop.), Chaitophorus truncates Hausmann, Ch. 

pakistanicus HRL, Ch. salicti (Schrank), Ch. vitellinae (Schrank), Ch. remaudierei Pintera, 

Ch. salijaponicus ssp. niger Mordv, Ch. nigritus HRL, Plocamaphis flocculosa Weed ssp. 

goernitzi Boerner, Pterocomma pilosum Buckt, Phylloxerina salicis Lichtenstein, 

Tuberolachnus salignus (Gmelin). The Willow giant aphid (Tuberolachnus salignus) is the 

most important aphid pest on willows, reported from 16 Salix species in Iran. The honeydew 

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of T. salignus is considered as a by-product of willow in Iran and widely used in 

pharmacology under name Bidkhesht. 

Five species of Aphidiinae (Braconidae) were reported on willow aphids from Iran: Adialytus 

salicaphis (Fitch, 1855) on Chaitophorus remaudierei (Pintera) and Ch. salijaponicus 

(Mordvilko), Aphidius cingulatus (Ruthe, 1859) on Pterocoma pilosum Buckt., Aphidius 

salicis (Haliday, 1834) on Cavariella aegopodii (Scopoli), Binodoxys brevicornis (Haliday, 

1833) on C. aegopodii, and Ephedrus helleni (Mackauer, 1968) on C. aquatica (Gillette & 

Bragg). 

____________________________________ 

New species of the genus Lathrolestes (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from the World 

Alexey Reshchikov 

Entomology Department, St Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9, 

St Petersburg, 19903 Russia; lerth@yandex.ru 

The genus Lathrolestes Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) is a large, mainly 

Holarctic genus with 61 described species (Yu et al. 2005). Of these, 32 species occur in the 

Nearctic region (Barron 1994), 26 species in the Palearctic region, predominantly Europe (Yu 

et al. 2005), one species in the Afrotropical region, Congo (Benoit 1955), four species in the 

Neotropics, Costa Rica (Gauld et al. 1997), and two species in the Oriental region(Uchida 

1932, 1940). This genus belongs to the subfamily Ctenopelmatinae (Hymenoptera, 

Ichneumonidae) and the tribe Perilissini which is distributed worldwide except Australia and 

Oceania with 23 genera and over 250 species. 

The larvae of members of this genus feed as koinobont endoparasitoids of sawflies mainly. 

The world distribution of Symphyta allows to assume a high biodiversity of the genus 

Lathrolestes. Last finds confirm this. Several new species of Lathrolestes were described or 

determined by author recently from different zoogeographical regions. 

Two new Oriental species have been discovered in Taiwan and Japan (Reshchikov, in press). 

One new species was collected in Sichuan, China by American naturalist D.C. Graham in 

1930. The fauna of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) of Nepal is not known satisfactorily. 

Mainly members of the subfamilies Ichneumoninae and Campopleginae, and no until now 

members of the subfamily Ctenopelmatinae, are known from this country. While examining 

Ichneumonidae collected during the Canadian Expedition to Nepal in 1967 author came 

across one new species of the genus Lathrolestes [unpublished data]. 

Members of Lathrolestes were not registered in Mexico but according to the neighbour faunas 

(Barron 1994, Gauld et al. 1997), roughly 9 known species could be found there. Description 

of four new species from Mexico is prepared [unpublished data]. One new species of 

Lathrolestes was described in collaboration with Finnish colleagues from Ecuador 

(Reshchikov et al., in press). These are additions to Neotropical fauna which includes four 

species of Lathrolestes (Gauld et al. 1997). 

Five species were described as new from the USA in support of the biological control of 

invasive European tenthredinid leafminers in North America. Two of them were reared from 

Profenusa thomsoni, pest of birch which was introduced in North America (Reshchikov et al. 

2010). 

The biggest biodiversity of the genus was detected in Eastern Palearctic where 17 new species 

were determined. In Western Palearctic, fauna of which is well known, 3 new species were 

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determined [unpublished data]. The revision of the Palearctic species of Lathrolestes is 

coming. 

Thus, 34 species of Lathrolestes are going to be described as new, further to 61 previously 

described species. Further studies of the genus Lathrolestes is required to provide the work on 

phylogeny of the tribe Perilissini, since it could bring some new characters of some new 

species. 

____________________________________ 

Oak gallwasp fauna of Iran (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) 

S. Ebrahim Sadeghi 1* , Melika, G., Stone, GN., Assareh, M.A., Askary, H., Tavakoli, M., Yarmand, H., 

Azizkhani, E., Zargaran, M.R., Barimani, H., Dordaii, A.A., Aligholizadeh, D., Salehi, M., Mozafari, 

M., Golestaneh, R., Zeinali, S., Mehrabi, A. 

1 Research Institute of Forest and Rangelands, Tehran, POBox 13185-116, Iran; ebrasadeghi@gmail.com 

36 species of oak gallwasps were known earlier from Iran (Chodjai 1980) which from near 

1/3 of species were erroneously listed or misidentified and only 24 species were correctly 

listed (marked with asterisk below). This study was carried out during 2001-2007. Six main 

species of Quercus were sampled: Q. infectoria, Q. macranthera, Q. petraea, (in Quercus s.s. 

section of oaks), and Q. brantii, Q. libani, Q. castaneifolia (in Cerris section oaks) in Zagross, 

Arasbaran, Fandoghlo, Andabil, Tarom Olya & Sofla, and Caspian forests of Iran. Eighty two 

(82) oak gallwasp species were found on different oak species in Iran, which from 20 species 

are new records for the Iranian fauna and 25 species were described as new for science. The 

next 57 species, known also from other regions, were found in Iran: Andricus aries, A. askewi, 

A. caliciformis, A. caputmedusae*, A. cecconii*, A. conglomeratus*, A. coriarius*, A. 

corruptrix, A. crispator, A. curtisii*, A. curvator, A. cydoniae, A. dentimitratus, A. 

foecundatrix*, A. galeatus, A. glandulae, A. gemmeus, A. grossulariae*, A. hystrix, A. 

infectorius*, A. inflator, A. insana*, A. kollari*, A. lucidus*, A. malpighii, A. moreae, A. 

multiplicatus, A. pictus, A. polycerus, A. sternlichti, A. theophrastea*, A. tomentosus*, 

Aphelonyx cerricola, Biorhiza pallida*, Callirhytis glandium, C. reticulates, C. rufescens, 

Cerroneuroterus gyulaigaraiae, C. lanuginosus*, Cynips cornifex, C. divisa, C. korsakovi, C. 

loricatus, C. quercus*, C. quercusfolii*, Chilaspis israeli, Neuroterus albipes, N. anthracinus, 

N. numismalis*, N. quercusbaccarum*, N. tricolor*, Pseudoneuroterus macropterus*, P. 

saliens*, Synophrus olivieri, S. politus*, Trigonaspis megaptera, T. synaspis*. 

25 new species were described during this project from Iran: Andricus assarehi, A. 

atkinsonae, A. chodjaii, A. coriariformis, A. csokai, A. istvani, A. libani, A. megalucidus, A. 

megatruncicolus, A. pseudoaries, A. pujadevillari, A. sadeghii, A. schoenroggei, A. stellatus, 

A. stonei, Aphelonyx persica, A. kordestanica, Dryocosmus caspiensis, D. jungalii, D. mikoi, 

D. tavakolii, Pseudoneuroterus mazandarani, P. nichollsi, Synophrus libani, S. syriacus. 

____________________________________ 

Study on the biology and efficiency determination testes of Habrobracon hebetor Say 

(Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on larvae of Plodia interpunctella Hübner 

(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) 

Nouraddin Shayesteh 

Department of Entomology, Agricultural and Natural Resources Faculty of Islamic Azad University Branch of 

Mahabad. P.O.Box: 59135-443 Mahabad, IRAN; profshayesteh@yahoo.com 

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The results of laboratory studies on the biology H. hebetor at 30±2 °C, 60±5% RH and 

ultimate larvae of Plodia interpunctella indicated that developmental duration of this 

parasitoid take places in 10.765 days (egg 1.575 ± 0.30 days, larvae 2.592± 0.11 days and 

pupa 6.598±0.15 days). Newly emerged female parasitoid responded well to host larvae. The 

adult lived longest when provided with both honey and water, without food they survived less 

than 4 days. Results showed that female parasitoid deposited eggs throughout the 24 hours, 

period. There were no significant difference, in reproduction and longevity between virgin 

and mated females. Development and survival periods of H. hebetor on P. interpunctella were 

studied at five temperatures ranging from 17 to 35°C. The lower developmental thresholds for 

eggs, larvae and pupa were extrapolated from the linear relationship between temperature and 

growth rate lower developmental thresholds were estimated to be 5.907 (egg), 14.749 

(larvae), 15.7156 (pupa). Degree-day (DD) accusations of 41.88, 45.05 and 89.14 were 

required for completion of the egg, larvae and pupa stages. Variation of trend of progeny sex 

ratio and sex ratio in relation to host density and effect of age parasitoid and host size on it 

showed that H. hebetor has a male biased sex ratio. The total number of eggs per female per 

day (mean) increased from 13.8 to with the host density increasing from 1 to 16. study 

coordinative effect of age parasitoid and host size on progeny sex ratio showed that age 

parasitoid increased sex ratio (female/ total) significantly, but host size had no effect on sex 

ratio and interaction between age parasitoid and size host on sex ratio of progeny have not 

significant effect. 

____________________________________ 

Structural colours in Hymenoptera wings 

Ekaterina Shevtsova & Christer Hansson 

Department of Biology, Zoology, Lund University, Sweden; Ekaterina.Shevtsova@cob.lu.se, 

Christer.Hansson@cob.lu.se. 

The patterns of bright structural colours on transparent wings of small Hymenoptera (body 

length 3mm, e.g. most species in superfamily Chalcidoidea) have been totally overlooked 

by biologists. The wing morphology regarding colour patterns in such groups has been 

described in terms of “black and brown” with complete disregard for the colourful reflections 

of the wing surface. With the discovery of WIP (see below) real colour patterns can now be 

observed, and investigated to get a more complete evolutionary picture, and the usual concept 

that wings in the Hymenoptera can not match the incredible diversity of butterfly wing 

patterns seems now an oversimplification. 

Transparent wings of tiny Hymenoptera are extremely thin (between 100 and 1000 

nanometers thick) and display vivid colour patterns due to thin film interference. We call 

these patterns WIP – Wing Interference Patterns, and they reflect uneven physical thickness 

of the wing membrane and are non-iridescent and taxon-specific. The physics of this optical 

phenomenon is pretty simple – two beam interference, but morphological features of the 

wings play their role to dioptrically stabilize and reinforce WIP by membrane corrugations, 

setae arrangements, venation and pigmentation. 

WIPs appear strong both in live and dry museum specimens and they are relatively easy to 

document digitally which makes this new morphological character a user-friendly tool in 

biodiversity investigations. WIP have a large potential in the studies of diversity and 

evolution in insects, integrating biophysics, taxonomy, genetics and behavioral biology. 

____________________________________ 

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The ant genus Monomorium in Australia: morphological plasticity or cryptic diversity? 

K.S. Sparks 1 , A.D. Austin 1* , A.N. Andersen 2 , S.O. Shattuck 3 , & S.C. Donnellan 1,4 

1 Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Science, The 

University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia; andy.austin@adelaide.edu.au 

2 CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems OIC, Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre PMB 44 Winnellie, NT 0822, 

Australia 

3 CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia 

4 Evolutionary Biology Unit, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia 

Monomorium Mayr (Formicidae) is a highly abundant, widespread and diverse genus of ants. 

Several Australian “species” show considerable morphological and chemical variation, while 

evidence from ecological and preliminary molecular research suggests significant cryptic 

diversity. However, rigorous morphological criteria that support separate species have proved 

difficult. In this study we are using sequence data from multiple loci to generate a phylogeny 

for the Australian species in order to test the current species group relationships and to 

generate hypotheses for species boundaries in the seed harvesting M. “rothsteini” complex. 

Preliminary results indicate that species groups, as currently understood, are not reflected in 

the molecular phylogeny and that several groups may be paraphyletic or polyphyletic. Our 

results also provide preliminary evidence that M. “rothsteini” represents a large complex of 

species distributed across the continent. 

____________________________________ 

The effect of grassland restoration on bee communities – a preliminary study in 

Hortobágy National Park, Hungary 

Gyula Szabó 1* , Roland Horváth 1 , Erika Zakar 2 , Lajos Kozák 2 , Szabolcs Lengyel 1 

1 Department of Ecology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Hungary; 

safranek85@gmail.com 

2 Department of Nature Conservation, Zoology and Game Management, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, 

Böszörményi út 138, Hungary 

The decline of ecosystem services in response to agricultural intensification has become a 

worldwide phenomenon, and pollinators are extremely threatened. We studied bee 

assemblages in the Egyek-Pusztakócs marsh and grassland system in Hortobágy National 

Park in the summer of 2009. Grassland restoration was carried out on 760 ha former 

croplands (alfalfa, wheat and sunflower fields) between 2005 and 2008. Year 1 following 

restoration was characterized by dense cover of weeds. The cover of grasses exceeded that of 

weeds by Year 2, and the first non-sown grasses and dicotyledonous species occurred from 

Year 3. The aim of our preliminary study was to compare bee communities on one-, two-, 

three- and four-year-old grassland restorations and native grasslands and to compare capture 

success of traps with different placement and killing liquid. The four age treatments plus the 

native grassland were replicated at two sampling sites (10 sites total). At each site, twelve 

yellow plate-traps (25cm diameter x 3cm high) were set, with two placement methods (on the 

ground, on a 1.2-m stick) and two killing liquids (ethylene-glycol with detergent, water with 

detergent) each replicated by three traps. The distance between traps was 10 m in every 

direction. We analyzed data by one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) using species 

richness and abundance as response variables. We found a significant positive correlation 

between bee species richness and abundance and the age of grasslands. Both species richness 

and abundance decreased from Year 1 to 2, and increased afterwards. Year 4 grassland 

restorations had significantly more species and higher abundances than Year 2 restorations. 

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Although several traps were destroyed by grazing livestock, mowing or fire management, 

most bee specimens were collected by traps placed on sticks and filled with ethylene-glycol 

plus detergent. Our results suggest that grassland restoration effectively increases the species 

richness and abundance of bee communities and can be useful in protecting pollinators and 

maintaining ecosystem services. 

____________________________________ 

Turkish Eurytomidae and Torymidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea): published data 

and new records 

Anelia Stojanova 1* , Hasan Sungur Civelek 2 , Berna Yörük 2 , Sabahat Sarı 2 & Tuçe Atahan 2 

1 Plovdiv University, Faculty of Biology, Department of Zoology, Plovdiv 4000, Bulgaria; 

stanelia@uni-plovdiv.bg 

2 Mugla University, Science and Art Faculty, Department of Biology, 48170 Kötekli, Mugla, Turkey 

In the present paper all available published data concerning Turkish Eurytomidae and 

Torymidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) is summarized. Seventy-three species from 

Eurytomidae and 40 species from Torymidae were recorded in entomological papers till now. 

As a result of our study, new records to the Turkish fauna are herein presented: 7 species from 

Eurytomidae (Bruchophagus platypterus (Walker, 1834); Eurytoma augasmae Zerova, 1977; 

Eurytoma herbaria Zerova, 1994; Eurytoma koeleriae Erdös, 1969; Eurytoma strigifrons 

Thomson, 1875; Rileya asiatica Zerova, 1976 and Systole conspicua Erdös, 1951) and 10 

species from Torymidae (Eridontomerus fulviventris Erdös, 1954; Megastigmus stigmatizans 

(Fabricius, 1798); Megastigmus synophri Mayr, 1874; Pseudotorymus arvernicus (Walker, 

1833); Pseudotorymus papaveris (Thomson, 1875); Pseudotorymus rosarum (Zerova et 

Seregina, 1992); Torymus cyaneus Walker, 1847; Torymus flavipes (Walker, 1833), Torymus 

longicalcar (Graham, 1994) and Torymus pygmaeus (Mayr, 1874). 

____________________________________ 

Montage Ultra: High Resolution Imaging of Parasitic Hymenoptera 

Elijah Talamas 

Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, Ohio 43212 USA; 


The small size of parasitic wasps hinders an appreciation of their existence by much of 

society. Here, a simple method for producing very large, high resolution images is presented, 

with the intention of increasing awareness via the aesthetic forms of microhymenoptera. The 

results have myriad uses, including public museum display, morphological diagrams, and 

home decoration. 

____________________________________ 

Parasitoid communities (Chalcidoidea) of oak gallwasps of Iran 

(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) 

Majid Tavakoli 1 *, George Melika, S. Ebrahim Sadeghi, Richard R. Askew, Graham N. Stone, Hassan 

Barimani, Davood Aligholizadeh, Ali asghar Dordaii, Hamid Yarmand, Mohammad Reza Zargaran & 

Seadat Mozafarian 

1 Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Khorramabad, Lorestan, P.O.Box: 348, Iran; 

majide322@yahoo.com 

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This study was carried out during 2001-2008. Six main species of Quercus were sampled: Q. 

infectoria, Q. macranthera, Q. petraea, (in Quercus s.s. section of oaks), and Q. brantii, Q. 

libani, Q. castaneifolia (in Cerris section oaks) in Zagross, Arasbaran, Fandoghlo, Andabil, 

Tarom Olya & Sofla, and Caspian forests of Iran. Eighty two (82) oak gallwasp species were 

found on different oak species in Iran. Under laboratory conditions 42 species of chalcidoid 

parasitoids were reared and identified from 52 species of oak gallwasps (from 46 asexual and 

6 sexual gall forms): Eurytomidae – 8 species (Sycophila biguttata, S. flavicollis, S. iracemae, 

S. variegata, Eurytoma brunniventris, E. pistacina, E. sp. nr infracta, Eurytoma ?strigifrons); 

Torymidae – 6 (Megastigmus dorsalis, M. stigmatizans, Torymus auratus, T. cyaneus, T. 

flavipes, T. geranii), Ormyridae – 2 (Ormyrus nitidulus and O. pomaceus), Pteromalidae – 9 

(Cyrtoptyx robustus, Cecidostiba fungosa, C. semifascia, Hobbya stenonota, Mesopolobus 

albitarsus, M. amaenus, M. fasciiventris, M. sericeus, M. tibialis), Eupelmidae – 6 (Eupelmus 

annulatus, E. cerri, E. matranus, E. rostratus, E. urozonus, E. vesicularis), Eulophidae – 11 

(Aulogymnus arsames, A. gallarum, A. testaceoviridis, A. trilineatus, Cirrospilus viticola, 

Closterocerus trifasciatus, Pediobius rotundatus, P. lysis, Aprostocetus sp., Aprostocetus sp. 

nr domenichinii, Baryscapus berhidanus). Around 106 species of chalcids and ichneumonids 

are recorded from oak cynipid galls in the Western Palaearctic, mainly in Europe which from 

near 50% of known species occur in Iran also. 

____________________________________ 

Oak cynipid gall inquilines of Iran (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini) 

Majid Tavakoli 1 *, George Melika, S. Ebrahim Sadeghi, Juli Pujade-Villar, Graham N. Stone, Hassan 

Barimani, Davood Aligholizadeh, Ali asghar Dordaii, Hamid Yarmand, Mohammad Reza Zargaran & 

Seadat Mozafarian 

1 Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Khorramabad, Lorestan, P.O.Box: 348, Iran; 


This study was carried out during 2001-2008. Six main species of Quercus were sampled: Q. 

infectoria, Q. macranthera, Q. petraea, (in Quercus s.s. section of oaks), and Q. brantii, Q. 

libani, Q. castaneifolia (in Cerris section oaks) in Zagross, Arasbaran, Fandoghlo, Andabil, 

Tarom Olya & Sofla, and Caspian forests of Iran. Eighty two (82) oak gallwasp species were 

found on different oak species in Iran. Fifteen known cynipid inquiline species associated 

with oak cynipid galls (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae: Synergini and Cynipini), were recorded for 

the Iranian cynipid fauna: Ceroptres cerri Mayr, C. clavicornis Hartig, Saphonecrus haimi 

(Mayr), Synergus gallaepomiformis (B. de Fonsc.), S. pallidipennis Mayr, S. pallipes Hartig, 

S. reinhardi Mayr, S. thaumacerus (Dalman), S. umbraculus (Olivier) and S. variabilis Mayr. 

Five new species of cynipid inquilines were recently described (Sadeghi et al. 2006), 

Saphonecrus irani Melika & Pujade-Villar, Synergus acsi Melika & Pujade-Villar, Synergus 

bechtoldae Melika & Pujade-Villar, Synergus palmirae Melika & Pujade-Villar and Synergus 

mikoi Melika & Pujade-Villar. Recently morphological and molecular data was used to revise 

the inquiline genus Synophrus Hartig, 1843 members of which are notable for extensively 

modifying the structure of galls induced by oak gallwasp hosts on oaks in the section Cerris 

of Quercus subgenus Quercus in the Western Palaearctic (Pénzes et al. 2009). Previous 

taxonomic treatments have recognized three Western Palaearctic species of Synophrus: S. 

pilulae, S. politus and S. olivieri which from the two last species were known from Iran also. 

As the result of the revision, other two new species were described from Iran: S. libani Melika 

et Pujade-Villar and S. syriacus Melika et Pujade-Villar, thus the tiotal number of Synophrus 

species known from Iran is four while 19 inquiline species were recorded all together. 

____________________________________ 

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Mitochondrial COI gene sequence in European Eumeninae wasps (Hymenoptera: 

Vespidae): intra-specific diversity and applicability for DNA barcoding 

Jurga Turinaviien¹, Anna Budrien², Eduardas Budrys¹ , ²* & Rita Radzeviit¹ 

¹ Department of Zoology of Vilnius University, M.K.iurlionio 21/27, Vilnius LT-03101, Lithuania 

² Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, Vilnius LT-08412, Lithuania; ebudrys@ekoi.lt 

The aim of the study was to estimate the intra- and interspecific genetic variability within 

selected European Eumeninae wasps and to examine the utility of partial sequence of the 

mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (COI) for species barcoding and for 

assessment of intra-specific population structure at different geographic scales. 

Wasps of six cavity-nesting Eumeninae genera were reared from trap-nests exposed in seminatural 

and agricultural landscapes of 13 European countries, including Austria, Estonia, 

France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, and 

United Kingdom. The specimens represented 19 species: Ancistrocerus antilope, A. 

claripennis, A. gazella, A. nigricornis, A. parietinus, A. trifasciatus, Discoelius dufourii, D. 

zonalis, Euodynerus notatus, E. posticus, E. quadrifasciatus, Leptochilus regulus, 

Symmorphus allobrogus, S. bifasciatus, S. crassicornis, S. debilitatus, S. gracilis, S. murarius, 

and Tachyancistrocerus rhodensis. 

DNA was extracted from wasp thoracic muscles according standard protocols. We amplified 

partial sequences of the COI gene (672bp). For 17 species, these sequences were established 

for the first time. They were compared using neighbour-joining (NJ) analysis, implemented in 

MEGA2.1. The haplotype networks for polymorphic species were constructed using the 

software TCS 1.13. 

Most of the studied European species demonstrated a very limited intraspecific variation and 

formed discrete clusters in the NJ tree. Out of them, the highest haplotype diversity was found 

in Discoelius zonalis and Symmorphus bifasciatus. Haplotypes of some species, like 

Ancistrocerus trifasciatus, displayed geographic variations, however, in Discoelius zonalis and 

Symmorphus bifasciatus, the intra-specific variability did not demonstrate a geographic 

pattern. 

Previously published partial sequences of the COI gene of other (mostly Nearctic) eumenine 

species were retrieved from the GenBank database and included into NJ analysis. Overall NJ 

analysis of distances among all representatives of the subfamily with known COI gene 

sequence resulted in a well resolved tree, with only two clades including more than one 

species. Our results demonstrate that the mtDNA COI gene sequence of Eumeninae wasps is 

useful for species barcoding and, for some species, may be applied for the intra-specific 

diversity studies. 

____________________________________ 

Systematic and phylogeny of the endemic south-eastern Asiatic Pristaulacus 

comptipennis species group (Hymenoptera Evanioidea: Aulacidae) 

Giuseppe F. Turrisi 1* & David R. Smith 2 

1 University of Catania, CUTGANA, Section of Nature Reserve Management, via Terzora 8, 

95027 San Gregorio di Catania, Catania, Italy; turrisifabrizio@yahoo.it 

2 Systematic Entomology Laboratory, PSI, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture c/o 

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution P.O. Box 37012, MRC-168 Washington, DC 

20013-7012, USA; sawfly2@aol.com 

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Aulacidae comprise some 221 extant species belonging to two genera: Aulacus Jurine, 1807, 

with 75 species and Pristaulacus Kieffer, 1900 (including the former Panaulix Benoit, 1984), 

with 146 species. Both genera are represented in all zoogeographic regions, except Antarctica 

(Smith, 2001, Contributions on Entomology, International 4(3): 261-319). Aulacidae are 

koinobiont endoparasitoids of wood-boring larvae of Hymenoptera and Coleoptera. Hosts are 

larval Xiphydriidae (Hymenoptera) and, most frequently, Buprestidae and Cerambycidae 

(Coleoptera). In south-eastern Asia, Aulacidae are essentially unexplored, and there is no 

comprehensive treatment, most all work being individual species descriptions or treatments of 

a smaller geographic areas. Here we present the results of the first comprehensive research on 

the distinctive Pristaulacus comptipennis species-group, which is endemic to south-eastern 

Asia and occurs from Japan to China, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The group was shown to be 

monophyletic in the phylogenetic study by Turrisi et al. (2009, Invertebrate Systematics 23: 

27-59) and is mainly characterized by one autapomorphy, the more or less deep occipital 

median emargination of the head, which is most obvious in dorsal view. Based on our study, 

sixteen valid species are recognized, of which only 5 were previously described (type material 

examined), and 11 are newly described (from China, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam). 

Phylogenetic analyses are based on a previous set of 79 morphological characters provided by 

Turrisi et al. (2009) plus 3 additional ones. Of this data set, 23 informative characters are 

selected and scored for analyses under different conditions (unordered, ordered, equal and 

implied weighting), using TNT for Parsimony Analysis. Two main large subgroups were 

retrieved, the first one (containing 5 species) having two tooth-like processes on the 

lateroventral margin of pronotum, anterior part of mesoscutum protruding and acutely shaped 

and six tooth-like processes on the claws; the other large clade ( with 11 species) is 

characterized by the long pronotum (height/length < 1.0) and the long petiole (length/width: > 

3.0). Other minor clades are identified and discussed. For all treated species a comprehensive 

illustrated key is proposed. 

____________________________________ 

The gallwasp venom apparatus 

Hege Vårdal 


hege.vardal@nrm.se 

Comparisons of the female venom apparatus in Cynipoid insect parasitoids and gall inducers 

show that the venom reservoir is most often relatively larger in the gall inducing females. The 

function of the venom in gall wasps is unknown and the present study aims at describing the 

ultrastructure of the venom apparatus as well as exploring possible functions of the venom. 

Light and transmission electron microscopy indicate that there are no muscles in the venom 

reservoir walls, and thus ejection of venom is probably controlled by the muscles of the 

ovipositor apparatus surrounding the venom apparatus unlike many other Hymenoptera which 

have independent muscle control of the venom apparatus. Thus the cynipoid venom is 

probably transferred to a host together with the eggs which may indicate that the venom is 

involved in host manipulation. Change in the physical appearance between the venom in the 

gland canal and the venom in the reservoir is observed and the glandular acitivity is 

apparently not restricted to the venom gland, but probably also occur in the reservoir wall. 

____________________________________ 

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Record on Indian species of Trichogramma Westwood, along with two new species, their 

host range and application against forest insect pests 

Mohammad Yousuf 

Forest Entomology Division, Tropical Forest Research Institute, P.O. RFRC, Mandla Road, Jabalpur- 482021 

(Madhya Pradesh), India; yousuf_tfri@yahoo.com 

Genus Trichogramma Westwood, 1833, with the type species Trichogramma evanescens is 

belonging to the order Hymenoptera, with size ranging from 0.4-0.6 mm. Species of 

Trichogramma have been utilized in biological control of insect pests all over the world. 

Major contributions on the release of Trichogramma spp. for biological control of 

lepidopterous pests have been made in last three decades. Trichogramma spp. have been 

utilized against the insect pests of agricultural crops, commercial cash crops, orchards and 

forest insect pests as well. They control the population of harmful insects at egg stage. Hence, 

the release of Trichogramma spp., have been made extensively all over the world for 

biological control of lepidopterous pests. 

Systematic survey for screening the indigenous species of Trichogramma was carried out 

(2005-2008) from central India, covering Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and 

Orissa. Three species: T. breviciliata Yousuf & Hassan, T. latipennis Yousuf & Hassan and T. 

kankerensis Yousuf & Hassan have already been reported. Two more new species of 

Trichogramma: T. breviflagellata sp.n. and T. paraplasseyensis sp.n., are being reported. The 

new species have been illustrated and described in detail. As a whole till date, twenty six 

species of Trichogramma (T. achaeae Nagaraja & Nagarkatti, T. agriae Nagaraja, T. 

breviciliata Yousuf & Hassan, T. brevifringiata Yousuf & Shafee, T. chilonis Ishii, T. 

chilotraeae Nagaraja & Nagarkatti, T. convolvuli Nagaraja, T. cuttackensis Nagaraja, T. 

danausicida Nagaraja, T. flandersi Nagaraja & Nagarkatti, T. hebbalensis Nagaraja, T. 

hesperidis Nagaraja , T. japonicum (Ashmead), T. kankerensis Yousuf & Hassan, T. 

kashmirica Nagaraja et. al., T. latipennis Yousuf & Hassan, T. manii Nagaraja & Gupta, T. 

pallidiventris Nagaraja, T. plasseyensis Nagaraja, T. poliae Nagaraja, T. raoi Nagaraja, T. 

sankarani Nagaraja, T. semblidis (Aurivillius) and T. thalense Pinto & Oatman including two 

new species, T. breviflagellata sp. n. and T. paraplasseyensis sp.n.) have been recorded from 

India. Host-range of all Trichogramma species, recorded from India has been up-dated. 

Laboratory culture of Trichogramma raoi, T. plasseyensis and T. breviciliata has been 

maintained on the eggs of Corcyra cephalonica and these have been tested against forest 

insect pests. Laboratory rearing of forest insect pests was also carried out. Eggs of forest 

insect pests (Hyblaea puera, Eutectona machaeralis and Hasora alexis) were pasted on paper 

stripes (100 eggs on each 2X 7 cm stripe with ten replications) and introduced Trichogramma 

species in each case having a set of one and five pairs of Trichogramma wasps. All three 

species of Trichogramma accepted the eggs of insect pests, introduced for testing. Results on 

the laboratory efficacy of Trichogramma raoi, T. plasseyensis and T. breviciliata against teak 

defoliator (Hyblaea puera) and teak skeletonizer (Eutectona machaeralis), and 

Trichogramma breviciliata against defoliator of Holoptelia integrifolia (Hasora alexis) have 

been discussed in detail. 

Field efficacy of five Trichogramma was carried out in teak forest against teak skeletonizer 

(E. machaeralis) by releasing these wasps in 1.5 lakhs/ha, with four replications, having plot 

size of one ha each with buffer of two ha; for three years. Skeletonization of teak leaves in the 

released teak forest area was reduced about 50 % and details on results obtained on field 

efficacy of Trichogramma raoi along with T. chilonis, T. brasiliensis, T. japonicum and T. 

120



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

pretiosum, commonly utilized species in biological control programmes, against teak 

skeletonizer has also been discussed. 

____________________________________ 

Hymenopterans on tree barks along climatic and altitudinal gradients in Ecuador 

Dominique Zimmermann 1* & Juergen Schmidl 2 

1 Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Burgring 7, A-1010 Vienna, Austria; 

dominique.zimmermann@nhm-wien.ac.at 

2 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Dept. Biology, Staudtstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany; 

jschmidl@bioform.de 

In the present study Hymenopterans collected in the course of the MACAG-Project 

(“Monitoring of Arthropods along Climate and Altitude Gradients”) are studied. The 

MACAG-Project aims at monitoring and evaluating climate change and altitudinal gradient 

driven impacts on the arthropod faunas on undamaged tree barks in primeval and near-tonature 

forests. 

In this context we analysed the composition of the Hymenoptera collected in 2007 in sic plots 

(10 x 10 m, 10-12 trees each) in Podocarpus NP in SE-Ecuador at three different altitudes 

(rainforest 1000 m, mountain rain forest 2000 m and Páramo 3000 m). On 71 trees 131 

specimens out of 97 species and 16 families were found, displaying a substantial singleton 

proportion. This pattern indicates a high level of trophic position of the recorded – almost 

solely parasitoid – Hymenoptera in the bark fauna-foodweb, where mites (mostly grazers and 

predators) and beetles (mostly fungi feeders and mite-predators) are the dominant groups 

worldwide (unpubl. data Schmidl). 

In contrast to the low specimen-species-ratio of 1.15 in Hymenoptera, the beetle fauna of the 

same 71 sampled tree barks has a specimen-species-ratio of 3.0. This corroborates the 

assumption that the low abundance is a foodweb matter – thus a functional rarity – and not 

only the typical rarity of tropical rainforest insects (“singleton problem”). Total abundance 

(Coleoptera: 940 specimens, Hymenoptera: 131 specimens) gives additional evidence and 

highlights the different biology of these two mega-diverse insects orders. 

The diversity pattern of Hymenoptera along the altitudinal gradient shows the highest species 

number at mid elevation (very similar to the beetle results), with (on average) 12.5 species per 

plot at 1000 m (rainforest), 27 sp. at 2000 m (mountain rain forest), and 12 sp. at 3000 m 

(Páramo), reflecting the structural properties of the forest and richness of the tree bark 

vegetation as trophic basis. Nevertheless, the specimen-species-ratio (between 1.04 and 1.33) 

does differ more between plots of the same altitudinal level than between altitudes, supporting 

the “functional rarity” stated above. A Soerensen-Index calculation reveals that there is almost 

no similarity between the Hymenoptera species sets of the three altitudinal levels, and also 

extremely low between plots of the same levels, a logical consequence of the low specimenspecies-ratios. 

A similar diversity pattern is reflected on family-level: The highest diversity was also found at 

2000 m with 12 of 16 families, followed by 1000 m with 11 and 3000 m with 8 families. 

Further sample analyses with more than 250 additional samples from 2008 and 2009 will 

allow deeper insights into diversity patterns and total species richness, using rarefaction and 

multivariate methods on a broader data basis. 

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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

PARTICIPANTS 

Abraham, Rudolf 


abraham@zoologie.uni-hamburg.de 

Achterberg van, Kees 

Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The 

Netherlands; achterberg@naturalis.nnm.nl 

Ács, Zoltán 

Fitolab Plant Pest Diagnostic and Advisory Ltd., Istenhegyi út 29., Budapest H-1125 Hungary; 

acs.zoltan@gmail.com 

Agosti, Donat 

Plazi, Switzerland/Iran; agosti@amnh.org 

Alizadeh, Esmaeil 

Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center of West Azerbaijan, P.O.Box:365 Urmia, Iran; 

ISM478@yahoo.com 

Askew, Richard R. 

5, Beeston Hall Mews, Beeston, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 9TZ, England; olynx@btinternet.com 

Austin, Andrew D. 

Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The 

University of Adelaide, Australia; andy.austin@adelaide.edu.au 

Bariaçik, Nil 

University of Nide, Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of Biology, TR-51100 Nide, Turkey; 

nilbagriacik@hotmail.com 

Barkan Nezahat Pınar 

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hacettepe University, 06800 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey; 

pinarbarkan@gmail.com 

Barsagade, Deepak D. 

Department of Zoology, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur 440033 India; dr_ddbars@rediffmail.com 

Baur, Hannes 

Natural History Museum, Bernastrasse 15, 3005 Bern, Switzerland; hannes.baur@nmbe.ch 

Bertone, Matthew A. 

Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA; 

matthew.bertone@gmail.com 

Bihari, Péter 

Biological Research Center of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics, Szeged, Hungary; 

bihari.peter@gmail.com 

Blank, Stephan M. 

Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Eberswalder Str. 90, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany; 

sblank@senckenberg.de 

Bosio, Giovanni 

Phytosanitary Service, Piedmont Region, via Livorno 60, Torino 10044 Italy; 

giovanni.bosio@regione.piemonte.it 

122



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Boyadzhiev, Peter S. 

Department of Zoology, University of Plovdiv “P. Hilendarski”, Plovdiv 4000, Bulgaria; boyadz@uniplovdiv.bg 

Brady, Seán 

Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 

USA; bradys@si.edu 

Breitkreuz, Laura 


Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany; laura.breitkreuz@mfn-berlin.de 

Broad, Gavin R. 

Department of Entomology, the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; 

g.broad@nhm.ac.uk 

Brothers, Denis J. 

School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; 

brothers@ukzn.ac.za 

Budrien, Anna 

Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, Vilnius LT-08412, Lithuania; ebudrys@ekoi.lt 

Budrys, Eduardas 

Nature Research Centre, Akademijos 2, Vilnius LT-08412, Lithuania and Dept. of Zoology of Vilnius 

University, M.K.iurlionio 21/27, Vilnius LT-03101, Lithuania; ebudrys@ekoi.lt 

Buffington, Matthew L. 

Systematic Entomology Laboratory, ARS-USDA, c/o National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian 

Institution, Washington, DC, USA; matt.buffington@ars.usda.gov 

Carpenter, James M. 

American Museum of Natural History, NYC, USA; carpente@amnh.org 

Cruaud, Astrid 

INRA-UMR Centre de Biologie et de Gestion des Populations, CBGP, (INRA/IRD/CIRAD/Montpellier 


cruaud@supagro.inra.fr 

Csóka, György 

Hungarian Forest Research Institute, Mátrafüred Research Station, 3232 Mátrafüred, Hungary; csokagy@erti.hu 

Cssz, Sándor 

Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary; csosz@zoo.zoo.nhmus.hu 

Deans, Andrew R. 


USA; andy_deans@ncsu.edu 

Delvare, Gérard 

Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement, (Cirad TA A 55/L), 

UMR CBGP, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5 France; gerard.delvare@cirad.fr 

Dias Filho, Manoel Martins 

Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; manoelmd@ufscar.br 

Donev, Atanas D. 

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Plovdiv “Paisii Hilendarski”, Tsar Asen Str. 24, 4000 

Plovdiv, Bulgaria; atdonev@yahoo.com 

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Early, John 

Auckland Museum, Private Bag 92018, Auckland, New Zealand; jearly@aucklandmuseum.com 

Ernst, Andrew 


USA; ernsthausen@gmail.com 

Falco-Gari, Jose Vicente 



Fernández-Triana, Jose L. 

Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Canada; jftriana@uoguelph.ca 

Forshage, Mattias 


generelle.morphologie@gmail.com 

Fuentes-Utrilla, Pablo 

Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, The King’s 

Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK; P.Fuentes@ed.ac.uk 

Fursov, Viktor N. 



Fusu, Lucian 

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I nr. 11, 700506, Iai, Romania; 

lucfusu@hotmail.com 

Gadallah, Neveen Samy 

Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt; n_gadallah@yahoo.com 

Gess, Friedrich W. 

Curator Emeritus and Contract Researcher, Department of Entomology and Arachnology, Makana Biodiversity 

Centre, Albany Museum, Somerset Street, Grahamstown, 6139 South Africa; f.gess@ru.ac.za 

Gess, Sarah K. 

Department of Entomology and Arachnology, Makana Biodiversity Centre, Albany Museum, Somerset Street, 

Grahamstown, 6139 South Africa; s.gess@ru.ac.za 

Gibbs, Melanie 

CEH Wallingford, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB UK; mela1@ceh.ac.uk 

Gibson, Gary A.P. 

Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes (CNC), Agriculture & Agri-food Canada, 


Gokhman, Vladimir E. 


Gratiashvili, Nana 

Entomology and Biocontrol Research Centre of Ilia State University, 0179, Tbilisi, Georgia; 

nanagratiashvili@yahoo.com 

Gumovsky, Alex 

Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, 15 Bogdan Khmelnitsky St., 01601 Kiev-30, Ukraine; 

gumovsky@izan.kiev.ua, entedon@gmail.com 

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Güler, Yasemin 

Plant Protection Central Research Institute, Gayret Mahallesi, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bulvari, No: 66, 06172 

Yenimahalle/Ankara, Turkey; yaseminguler@gmail.com 

Gürbüz, Mehmet Faruk 

Süleyman Demirel University Department of Biology, Isparta, Turkey; mfg@fef.sdu.edu.tr 

Hansen, Lars Ove 

Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, POBox 1172 Blindern, NO-0318 Oslo, Norway; 

l.o.hansen@nhm.uio.no 

Hansson, Christer 

Department of Biology, Zoology, Lund University, Sweden; Christer.Hansson@cob.lu.se 

Hearn, Jack 

Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, 

EH9 3JF United Kingdom; J.Hearn@sms.ed.ac.uk 

Heraty, John 

Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, CA, USA; john.heraty@ucr.edu 

Hilszczaski, Jacek 

Department of Forest Protection, Forest Research Institute, Sekocin Stary ul. Braci Lesnej 3 05-090 Raszyn, 

Poland; hilszczj@ibles.waw.pl 

Hirose, Yoshimi 

Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan; hirosey@jcom.home.ne.jp 

Holy, Kamil 

Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507, CZ-161 06 Prague, Czech Republic; holy@vurv.cz 

Hu, Hongying 

College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumq, 830046 China; hoohyii@sina.com 

Huber, John T. 

Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; john.huber@agr.gc.ca 

Izquierdo Moya, Isabel 

Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain; izquierdo@mncn.csic.es 

Jansta, Petr 

Faculty of Sciencies, Department of Zoology, Charles University, PrF UK, Vinicna 7, 12844 Praha 2, Czech 

Republic; janstapetr@gmail.com 

Japoshvili, George 

Department of Entomology, Institute of Zoology, Ilia Chavchavadze State University, Tbilisi, Georgia; 

giorgij70@yahoo.com 

Jiao, Tian-Yang 

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1# Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, 

China; jiaoty@ioz.ac.cn 

Jiménez-Peydro, Ricardo 

Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad, Universitat de Valencia, Apdo. oficial 22085, 46071-Valencia, Spain; 

Ricardo.jimenez@uv.es 

Johnson, Norman F. 


Columbus, Ohio 43212 USA; johnson.2@osu.edu 

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Kanizsai, Orsolya 

Department of Ecology, Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary; lot@c2.hu 

Karlsson, Dave 

Ärvingevägen 14, 164 46 Stockholm, Sweden; dave.karlsson@nrm.se 

Kirpik, Mehmet Ali 

Department of Biology, Kafkas University, Faculty of Science and Letters, 36100 Kars-Turkey; 

kirpik80@hotmail.com 

Kirschey, Lukas 

Museum für Naturkunde Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung an der Humbold- 

Univerität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany; lukas.kirschey@mfn-berlin.de 

Kittel, Rebecca 

Rosenstrasse 12, 26122 Oldenburg, Germany; rebecca.kittel@gmx.de 

Klopfstein, Seraina 

Naturhistorisches Museum Bern/Universität Bern, Switzerland; klopfstein@nmbe.ch 

Koçak, Erhan 

Plant Protection Central Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey; erhan_kocak@hotmail.com 

Kodan, Münevver 

Plant Protection Central Research Institute, Gayret Mah., Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bulv., No: 66, 06172, 

Yenimahalle/Ankara, Turkey; munevverkodan@gmail.com 

Kolesova, Natalia S. 

Vologda State Pedagogical University, Vologda, 160034 Russia; nbalukova@yandex.ru 

Konishi, Kazuhiko 

National Agricultural Research Center for Hokkaido Region, Japan; konishi@affrc.go.jp 

Kos, Katarina 

University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Agronomy, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1111 Ljubljana, 

Slovenia; katarina.kos@bf.uni-lj.si 

Krause, Stefanie 


Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany; stefanie.krause@mfn-berlin.de 

Krogmann, Lars 

Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany; krogmann.smns@naturkundemuseum-bw.de 

Lelej, Arkady S. 

Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Far Eastern Branch, Vladivostok, Russia; 


Liljeblad, Johan 

Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish Agricultural University, P.O.Box 7007, SE-750 07 Uppsala, 

Sweden; cynips@gmail.com 

Loffredo, Ana Paula da Silva 

Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; ap_loffredo@yahoo.com.br 

Lohrmann, Volker 


Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany; volker.lohrmann@mfn-berlin.de 

126



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Lohse, Konrad 

Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, West Mains Road, EH9 3JT, UK; 

K.R.Lohse@sms.ed.ac.uk 

Lotfalizadeh, Hosseinali 

Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran; 


Magnusson, Pelle 

Påboda 709, 385 90 SÖDERÅKRA Sweden; yonkyo19@hotmail.com 

Masnadi-Yazdinejad, Ashkan 


153951454 Iran; masnadi@iripp.ir 

Matsumoto, Rikio 

Osaka Museum of Natural History, Nagai Park 1-23, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, 546-0034, Japan; 

rikio@mus-nh.city.osaka.jp 

Matsuo, Kazunori 

Entomological Laboratory, Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, 

Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan; k_matsuo@agr.kyushu-u.ac.jp 

Mehrnejad, M. Reza 

Pistachio Research Institute, P.O. Box 77175.435, Rafsanjan, Iran; reza_mehrnejad@hotmail.com 

Melika, George 

Pest Diagnostic Laboratory, Tanakajd, Hungary; melikageorge@gmail.com 

Mete, Özlem 

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hacettepe University, 06800 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey; 

ozlemmete83@gmail.com 

Mikó, István 


USA; istvan.miko@gmail.com 

Mishchenko, Andrey 

Department of Zoology, State Pedagogical University, Ulyanovsk, 432700 Russia 

Mitroiu, Mircea-Dan 

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I 20A, 700505 Iasi, Romania; 

mircea.mitroiu@uaic.ro 

Mosel, Silke 

Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitaetsforschung an der Humboldt- 

Universitaet zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, D- 10115 Berlin, Germany; silke.mosel@mfn-berlin.de 

Mottern, Jason L. 

Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA; jmott002@student.ucr.edu 

Mullins, Patricia L. 

North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA; Plmullin@ncsu.edu 

Murray, Elizabeth 

Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, CA, USA; elizabeth.murray@email.ucr.edu 

Musetti, Luciana 


Columbus, Ohio 43212 USA; musetti.2@osu.edu 

127



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Nakamura, Satoshi 

Japan International Research Centre for Agricultural Sciences, 1-1 Ohwashi, Tsukuba, 305-8686 Japan; 

s.nakamura@affrc.go.jp 

Nicholls, James A. 

Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Ashworth Labs, King’s Buildings, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 

3JT UK; james.nicholls@ed.ac.uk 

Nieves-Aldrey, José Luis 

Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, C/ José 

Gutiérrez Abascal 2, ES-28006 Madrid, Spain; aldrey@mncn.csic.es 

Noyes, John S. 

Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, England, UK; jsn@nhm.ac.uk 

Ohl, Michael 


Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany; michael.ohl@mfn-berlin.de 

Österblad, Ika 

University of Helsinki, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, P.O Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1), FI- 

00014 Helsinki, Finland; ika.osterblad@helsinki.fi 

Özgen, nanç 

Plant Protection Department of Agricultural Faculty of Dicle University, Diyarbakır, Turkey; 


Penev, Lyubomir 

ZooKeys Managing Editor, Pensoft Publishers, 13a Geo Milev Street, 1111 Sofia, Bulgaria; 

lyubo.penev@gmail.com, info@pensoft.net 

Penteado-Dias, Angélica Maria 

Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; angelica@ufscar.br 

Pénzes, Zsolt 

Biological Research Center of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics, Szeged, Hungary/ 

Department of Ecology, Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary; penzes@bio.u-szeged.hu 

Peris-Felipo, Francisco Javier 



Peters, Ralph S. 


ralph.peters@uni-hamburg.de 

Pickett, Kurt Milton 

Department of Biology, University of Vermont, 120A Marsh Life Science Building, 109 Carrigan Drive, 

Burlington, VT 05405, USA; kurt.pickett@uvm.edu 

Popescu, Irinel E. 

Department of Zoology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, “Al. I. Cuza” University, Iasi, Romania; 

irinellus@yahoo.com 

Popovici, Ovidiu Alin 

“Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of Biology, Iasi, Romania; popovici_alin_ovidiu@yahoo.com 

Pricop, Emilian 

“Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Faculty of Biology, Bd. Carol I 20a, 700505 Iai, Romania; 

pricopemilian@yahoo.com 

128



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Pujade-Villar, Juli 

Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Biologia, Dpt. Biologia Animal, Avda Diagonal-645, 08028-Barcelona, 

Spain; jpujade@ub.edu 

Quicke, Donald L.J. 

Division of Biology, Imperial College, c/o The Natural History Museum; Cromwell Rd., London, UK; 

d.quicke@imperial.ac.uk 

Rasplus, Jean-Yves 

INRA-UMR Centre de Biologie et de Gestion des Populations, CBGP, (INRA/IRD/CIRAD/Montpellier 


rasplus@supagro.inra.fr 

Reshchikov, Alexey 

Entomology Department, St Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab., 7/9, St Petersburg, 19903 

Russia; lerth@yandex.ru 

Sadeghi, S. Ebrahim 

Research Institute of Forest and Rangelands, Tehran, POBox 13185-116, Iran; ebrasadeghi@gmail.com 

Schauff, Michael 

Plant Sciences Institute, ARS, USDA, Bldg 003, rm 231, BARC-W, Beltsville MD 20705 USA; 

mike.schauff@ars.usda.gov 

Schick, Katherine N. 

Essig Museum of Entomology, 211 Wellman Hall, 3112, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3112, 

USA; kaschick@berkeley.edu 

Schmidt, Justin O. 

Southwestern Biological Institute, 1961 W. Brichta Dr., Tucson, AZ 85745, USA; ponerine@dakotacom.net 

Schmidt, Stefan 

Zoologische Staatssammlung, Münchhausenstr. 21, 81247 Munich, Germany; Hymenoptera@zsm.mwn.de 

Schönrogge, Karsten 

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, MacLean Building, Benson Lane, Wallingford, OXON, OX10 

8BB, UK; ksc@ceh.ac.uk 

Schwarzfeld, Marla D. 

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; 

marla.schwarzfeld@ualberta.ca 

Seltmann, Katja 


katja_seltmann@ncsu.edu 

Sharanowski, Barbara J. 


USA; Barb.Sharanowski@gmail.com 

Sharkey, Michael J. 

Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA; msharkey@uky.edu 

Shaw, Mark R. 

National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK; markshaw@xenarcha.com 

Shayesteh, Nouraddin 

Department of Entomology, Agricultural and Natural Resources Faculty of Islamic Azad University, Branch of 

Mahabad. P.O.Box: 59135-443 Mahabad, IRAN; profshayesteh@yahoo.com 

129



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Shevtsova, Ekaterina 

Department of Biology, Zoology, Lund University, Sweden; Ekaterina.Shevtsova@cob.lu.se 

Sinclair, Frazer 

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, OX10 8BB, c/o University of Edinburgh, UK; FRNC@ceh.ac.uk 

Soon, Villu 

Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu 

51014, Estonia; villu.soon@ut.ee 

Szabó, Gyula 

Department of Ecology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Hungary; 

safranek85@gmail.com 

Stigenberg, Julia 

Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden; Julia.stigenberg@nrm.se 

Stojanova, Anelia 

Plovdiv University, Faculty of Biology, Department of Zoology, Plovdiv 4000, Bulgaria; 

stanelia@uni-plovdiv.bg 

Stone, Graham N. 

Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, The King’s 

Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, United Kingdom; Graham.stone@ed.ac.uk 

Taeger, Andreas 

Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Eberswalder Str. 90, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany; 

ataeger@senckenberg.de 

Taekul, Charuwat 

Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA; 

taekul.1@osu.edu 

Takasuka, Keizo 

Entomological Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8566, Japan; 

ichneumonidae@gmail.com 

Talamas, Elijah J. 

Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA; 


Tang, Chang-Ti 

National Chung-Hsing University, Kuo Kuang Rd. 250, Taichung 40227, Taiwan; cynipidsman@gmail.com 

Tavakoli, Majid 

Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Khorramabad, Lorestan, P.O.Box: 348, Iran; 


Triapitsyn, Serguei V. 



Turrisi, Giuseppe Fabrizio 

University of Catania, C.U.T.G.A.N.A., Laboratorio Naturalistico Ambientale "Natura e Scienza", via Terzora 8 

– 95027 San Gregorio di Catania, c/o Nature Reserve "Vallone di Piano della Corte" (Sicilia, Enna, Agira, Italy; 

turrisifabrizio@yahoo.it 

Van Noort, Simon 

Division of Natural History, Iziko South African Museum, PO Box 61, Cape Town 8000, South Africa; 

svannoort@iziko.org.za 

130



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Abe, Y., 5, 13, 45, 119 

Abraham, R., 13, 107, 122 

Achterberg van, K., 4, 7, 15, 56, 122 

Ács, Z., 5, 59, 122 

Adjami, Y., 5, 49 

Agosti, D., 4, 9, 15, 24, 122 

Ahmad, R.S., 6, 30 

Akpinar, A.E., 11, 84 

Albadalejo, C.M., 11, 87 

Aligholizadeh, D., 13, 112, 115, 116 

Alizadeh, E., 10, 72, 122 

Alma, A., 5, 20 

Altenhofer, E., 4, 20 

Andersen, A.N., 13, 114 

Arnedo, M.A., 5, 49 

Askary, H., 13, 112 

Askew, R.R., 6, 10, 11, 13, 16, 82, 83,115, 122 

Assareh, M.A., 13, 112 

Atahan, T., 13, 115 

Austin, A.D., 4, 7, 8, 13, 38, 44, 65, 114, 122 

Aytekin, A.M., 8, 10, 33, 72 

Azevedo, C.O., 9, 24 

Azizkhani, E., 13, 112 

Bariaçik, N., 8, 17, 122 

Barimani, H., 13, 112, 115, 116 

Barjadze, S., 11, 83 

Barkan, N.P., 10, 72, 122 

Barsagade, D.D., 3, 18, 122 

Baur, H., 3, 18, 122 

Ben Jamâa, M.L., 5, 49 

Bertone, M.A., 3, 10, 44, 53, 69, 73, 122 

Beyaraslan, A., 6, 47 

Bihari, P., 5, 6, 19, 29, 59, 122 

Blank, S.M., 4, 20, 122 

Blaxter, M., 5, 34, 59 

Bolu, H., 12, 104 

Borner, J., 9, 47 

Bosio, G., 5, 21, 122 

Bouhraoua, R., 5, 49 

Boukreris, F., 5, 49 

Boyadzhiev, P.S., 10, 73, 123 

Brabant, C.M., 9, 24 

Brady, S.G., 3, 5, 22, 23, 123 

Breitkreuz, L., 10, 74, 123 

Broad, G.R., 4, 6, 22, 24, 66, 123 

Brothers, D.J., 7, 9, 23, 24, 123 

Brussino, G., 5, 20 

Budrien, A., 10, 12, 13, 74, 75, 76, 101, 117, 123 

Budrys, E., 10, 12, 13, 74, 75, 76, 101, 117, 123 

Buffington, M.L., 4, 5, 12, 23, 49, 104, 123 

Index to Authors of Papers and Posters 

(bold = abstract) 

132



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Burks, R.A., 9, 11, 34, 94 

Büyükakka, S., 8, 17 

Cano, J.M., 11, 87 

Carmichael, A., 12, 101 

Carpenter, J.M., 9, 24, 48, 53, 123 

Catapano, T., 4, 15 

Cavers, S., 5, 55 

Ceccarelli, F.S., 6, 71 

Challis, R., 5, 59 

Chesters, D., 4, 24 

Ciornei, C., 4, 20 

Civelek, H.S., 13, 115 

Condon, M., 4, 67 

Constantineanu, I., 4, 20 

Constantineanu, R., 4, 20 

Couloux, A., 8, 26 

Cruaud, A., 8, 26, 123 

Csóka, Gy., 4, 20, 59, 123 

Cssz, S., 9, 27, 123 

Da Rong, Y., 8, 26 

Deans, A.R., 3, 7, 9, 10,28,44,45,53,69,73,123 

Delvare, G., 3, 4, 27, 42, 123 

DeMartini, J.D., 5, 45 

Demirsoy, A., 12, 99 

De Jesús-Bonilla, V.S., 6, 71 

Dias Filho, M.M., 10, 12, 76, 105, 123 

Dikmen, F., 8, 33 

Doczkal, D., 3, 18 

Donev, A.D., 10, 73, 123 

Donnellan, S.C., 4, 13, 44, 114 

Dordaii, A.A., 13, 112, 115, 116 

Dowling, A.P.G., 9, 53 

Dubois, J., 9, 24 

Eardley, C., 8, 65 

Early, J.W., 10, 77, 124 

El-Heneidy, A., 6, 30 

Ernst, A., 3, 7, 28, 53, 124 

Ernst, J., 6, 29 

Erwin, T.L., 6, 66 

Falco-Gari, J.V., 10, 12, 77, 78, 106, 107, 124 

Fernández-Triana, J., 4, 6, 24, 28, 35, 56, 124 

Ferracini, C., 5, 20 

Forshage, M., 5, 29, 124 

Fritzén, N.R., 12, 103 

Fuentes-Utrilla, P., 6, 29, 124 

Fursov, V.N., 10, 79, 80, 124 

Fusu, L., 10, 78, 124 

Gadallah, N.S., 6, 30, 124 

Gauld, I.D., 4, 24 

Gechev, T.S. 10, 73 

Genson, G., 8, 26 

Geraldo, M., 10, 76 

Gess, F.W., 10, 81, 124 

133



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Gess, S.K., 10, 81, 124 

Gibbs, M., 124 

Gibson, G.A.P., 3, 31, 44, 124 

Gokhman, V.E., 7, 10, 31, 82, 124 

Golestaneh, R., 13, 112 

Gómez, I., 6, 66 

Gómez, J.F., 10, 11, 82, 83 

Goulet, H., 4, 56 

Gratiashvili, N., 11, 83, 124 

Gumovsky, A., 6, 32, 124 

Guz, N., 11, 84 

Güler, Y., 8, 33, 125 

Gürbüz, M.F., 6, 33, 125 

Gürkan, M.O., 7, 11, 37, 84 

Haghighian, F., 11, 85 

Hallwachs, W., 4, 24, 56 

Hansen, L.O., 125 

Hansson, C., 3, 13, 54, 113, 125 

Hara, H., 4, 20 

Hawks, D., 9, 12, 53, 101 

Hayward, A., 5, 59 

Hearn, J., 5, 34, 125 

Hebert, P.D.N., 4, 24, 56 

Heraty, J.M., 6, 9, 12, 34, 53, 67, 100, 101, 125 

Herrera Flórez, A.F., 10, 76 

Hilszczaski, J., 11, 85, 125 

Hirose, Y., 6, 35, 125 

Holy, K., 11, 86, 125 

Hopper, K.R., 6, 67 

Horváth, R., 13, 114 

Hrcek, J., 4, 24, 56 

Hu, H., 11, 86, 125 

Huber, J.T., 4, 35, 56, 125 

Huflejt, T., 4, 20 

Ichiki, R.T., 12, 102 

Izquierdo Moya, I., 11, 87, 125 

Jabbour-Zahab, R., 8, 26 

Jakše, J., 11, 93 

Janšta, P., 11, 88, 125 

Janzen, D., 4, 24, 56 

Japoshvili, G., 11, 88, 125 

Jiao, T.-Y., 11, 89, 125 

Jimenez-Peydro, R., 10, 12, 77, 78, 106, 107, 125 

Johnson, N.F., 7, 36, 60, 61, 65, 125 

Kanizsai, O., 125 

Karlsson, D., 11, 89, 126 

Kazemi, M.-H., 12, 96 

Kerdelhué, C., 8, 26 

Kiritani, K., 12, 98 

Kirpik, M.A., 11, 90, 126 

Kirschey, L., 11, 91, 95, 126 

Kilincer, A.N., 11, 84 

Kimsey, L.S., 9, 24 

Kittel, R., 126 

134



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Kjellberg, F., 8, 26 

Klopfstein, S., 4, 11, 24, 91, 126 

Koçak, E., 4, 11, 36, 84, 126 

Kodan, M., 7, 37, 126 

Kolesova, N.S., 11, 92, 126 

Konishi, K., 11, 92, 126 

Kos, K., 11, 93, 126 

Kozák, L., 13, 114 

Krause, S., 8, 11, 38, 95, 126 

Krogmann, L., 8, 9, 11, 38, 47, 94, 126 

Kropf, C., 11, 91 

Laurenne, N.M., 4, 24 

Lelej, A.S., 7, 23, 39, 126 

Lengyel, Sz., 13, 114 

Lewis, M., 4, 67 

Liljeblad, J., 5, 9, 34, 40, 126 

Loffredo, A.P., da Silva, 11, 95, 126 

Lohrmann, V., 8, 9, 11, 24, 41, 95, 126 

Lohse, K., 8, 41, 127 

Longino, J.T., 6, 66 

Lotfalizadeh, H., 4, 12, 42, 96, 127 

Macleod, E.S., 3, 53 

Magnusson, P., 127 

Mahmoud, S.M., 6, 30 

Majoros, G., 9, 27 

Marsan, C., 6, 29 

Masnady-Yazdinejad, A., 12, 96, 97, 98, 127 

Masner, L., 7, 10, 61, 65, 77 

Matsumoto, R., 7, 42, 60, 127 

Matsuo, K., 12, 98, 127 

Medianero, E., 5, 12, 46, 99 

Mehrabi, A., 13, 112 

Mehrnejad, M.R., 4, 43, 127 

Melika, G., 3, 5, 6, 13, 19, 20, 40, 45, 49, 59, 61, 112, 115, 116, 127 

Mete, Ö., 12, 99, 127 

Meyer, B., 9, 47 

Mikulás, J., 4, 20 

Mikó, I., 3, 7, 10, 28, 44, 45, 53, 69, 73, 127 

Miller, S., 4, 24, 56 

Mishchenko, A., 3, 68, 127 

Mishima, M., 12, 98 

Misof, B., 9, 47 

Mitroiu, M.-D., 12, 100, 127 

Moharramipour, S., 13, 110 

Moniri, V.-R., 14, 119 

Mosel, S., 127 

Mottern, J.L., 12, 100, 127 

Mozafari, M., 13, 112 

Mozafarian, S., 13, 115, 116 

Muirhead, K.A., 4, 44 

Muller, F., 8, 69 

Mullins, P.L., 7, 45, 127 

Munro, J., 9, 34 

135



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Murray, E., 9, 12, 34, 101, 127 

Musetti, L., 7, 36, 127 

Nakamura, S., 12, 102, 128 

Neser, S., 5, 40 

Nevronyt, Ž., 10, 12, 74, 75, 101 

Nguyen, H.T., 12, 102 

Nicholls, J.A., 5, 6, 29, 45, 61, 128 

Niehuis, O., 9, 47 

Nieves-Aldrey, J.L., 5, 10, 11, 12, 40, 46, 59, 82, 83, 99, 128 

Norrbom, A., 4, 49 

Noyes, J.S., 12, 103, 128 

Ohl, M., 8, 9, 10, 11, 24, 38, 41,74, 91, 95, 128 

Oliveira Gonzaga, M., 11, 95 

Oltra-Moscardo, M.T., 10, 12, 77, 78, 106, 107 

Österblad, I., 12, 103, 128 

Ouakid, M., 5, 49 

Özdan, A., 6, 33 

Özgen, I., 6, 12, 47, 104, 128 

Packer, L., 9, 24 

Paretas-Martínez, J., 12, 104 

Penev, L., 4, 15, 128 

Penteado-Dias, A.M., 10, 11, 12, 76, 95, 105, 128 

Pénzes, Zs., 5, 6, 19, 49, 59, 128 

Peris-Felipo, F.J., 10, 12, 77, 78, 106, 107, 128 

Perrard, A., 8, 69 

Perrichot, V., 3, 66 

Peters, R.S., 9, 13, 47, 107, 128 

Petrovi, A., 11, 93 

Piazza, E., 5, 20 

Pickett, K.M., 9, 48, 128 

Popescu, I.E., 13, 108, 128 

Popovici, O.A., 7, 13, 65, 108, 128 

Potter, D., 5, 50 

Pricop, E., 13, 109, 128 

Pujade-Villar, J., 5, 12, 49, 59, 104, 116, 129 

Quacchia, A., 5, 20 

Quicke, D. L.J., 4, 11, 24, 56, 91, 129 

Radzeviit, R., 13, 117 

Rahemi, S., 13, 110 

Rakhshani, E., 13, 110 

Rasplus, J.-Y., 4, 8, 26, 42, 129 

Reséndiz-Flores, A., 6, 71 

Reshchikov, A., 13, 111, 129 

Restrepo-Ortiz, C., 12, 104 

Ribes Escolá, A., 6, 16 

Rizzo, M.C., 6, 16 

Robertson, H., 8, 65 

Rodriguez, C., 5, 49 

Rodriguez, J., 4, 24, 56 

Rodríguez-Pérez, A.C., 6, 71 

Roller, L., 4, 20 

Rome1, Q., 8, 69 

Ronquist, F., 9, 53 

136



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Sadeghi, S.E., 10, 11, 13, 14, 72, 85, 110, 112, 115, 116, 119, 129 

Salehi, M., 13, 112 

Sallam, N., 4, 44 

Santinelo Pereira, R.A., 8, 26 

Sarı, S., 13, 115 

Saure, C., 7, 15 

Sääksjärvi, I.E., 6, 66 

Schauff, M., 129 

Scheffer, S., 4, 49, 67 

Schick, K.N., 5, 50, 129 

Schmidl, J., 14, 121 

Schmidt, J.O., 8, 9, 51, 129 

Schmidt, S., 8, 51, 129 

Schönrogge, K., 5, 52, 55, 59, 129 

Schulmeister, S., 9, 24, 53 

Schulze, M., 11, 95 

Schütte, K., 9, 47 

Schwarzfeld, M.D., 6, 52, 129 

Schweizer, M., 3, 18 

Seifert, B., 11, 83 

Seltmann, K., 3, 10, 44, 53, 69, 73, 129 

Sharanowski, B., 4, 7, 8, 24, 28, 41, 45, 53, 129 

Sharkey, M.J., 4, 9, 24, 53, 56, 70, 129 

Shattuck, S.O., 13, 114 

Shaw, M.R., 4, 6, 24, 54, 129 

Shaw, S.R., 3, 4, 24, 66 

Shayesteh, N., 13, 112, 129 

Shevtsova, E., 3, 13, 54, 113, 130 

Shojai, M., 13, 110 

Shorthouse, J.D., 5, 34, 50 

Sinclair, F., 5, 55, 130 

Sipos, B., 6, 19 

Smith, D.R., 13, 117 

Smith, M.A., 4, 6, 24, 56, 71 

Sobczak, J.F., 11, 95 

Somogyi, K., 6, 19 

Soon, V., 8, 57, 130 

Sparks, K.S., 13, 114 

Sperling, F.A.H., 6, 52 

Stigenberg, J., 6, 58, 130 

Stojanova, A.M., 13, 115, 130 

Stone, G.N., 5, 6, 8, 13, 19, 29, 34, 41, 45, 49, 55, 59, 61, 112, 115, 116, 130 

Szabó, Gy., 13, 114, 130 

Taeger, A., 130 

Taekul, C., 7, 60, 65, 130 

Takano, S-I., 12, 102 

Takasuka, K., 6, 60, 130 

Talamas, E.J., 7, 13, 61, 115, 130 

Tang, C.-T., 5, 45, 61, 130 

Tavakoli, M., 13, 112, 115, 116, 130 

Tokuda, M., 12, 98 

Tomanovi, Ž., 11, 93 

Trdan, S., 11, 93 

Triapitsyn, S.V., 7, 8, 13, 63, 64, 130 

137



_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Turinaviien, J., 13, 117 

Turrisi, G.F., 13, 117, 130 

Ubaidillah, R., 8, 26 

Valerio, A.A., 7, 60 

Van Noort, S., 7, 8, 26, 65, 130 

Vårdal, H., 13, 118, 131 

Veijalainen, A., 6, 66, 131 

Vétek, G., 4, 20 

Vilhelmsen, L., 3, 9, 44, 53, 66, 131 

Villemant, C., 8, 69 

Vogler, A.P., 4, 24 

Wachi, N., 13, 119, 131 

Wahlberg, N., 6, 66 

Walter, G.H., 8, 51 

Ward, D.F., 4, 10, 53, 56, 77, 131 

Wharton, R.A., 4, 6, 22, 49, 67, 131 

Wheeler, W.C., 9, 53 

Whitfield, J.B., 4, 6, 24, 28, 56 

Woolley, J.B., 3, 4, 6, 67, 131 

Xiao, H., 11, 89, 131 

Yang, M.-M., 5, 45, 61 

Yan-Qiong, P., 8, 26 

Yarmand, H., 13, 14, 112, 115, 116, 119, 131 

Yefremova, Z., 3, 68, 131 

Yegorenkova, E., 3, 68, 131 

Yoder, M.J., 3, 9, 10, 34, 44, 53, 69, 73, 131 

Yoshida, T., 8, 69, 131 

Yousuf, M., 14, 120, 131 

Yörük, B., 13, 115 

Yu, D., 4, 70 

Yukawa, J., 12, 98 

Zakar, E., 13, 114, 131 

Zaldivar-Riveron, A., 4, 6, 24, 56, 71, 131 

Zargaran, M.R., 13, 112, 115, 116 

Zeinali, S., 13, 110, 112 

Zimmermann, D., 14, 121, 131 

138

Seventh International Congress of Hymenopterists

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