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Key to Afrotropical Tessmannella species

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera;  Superfamily: Cynipoidea; Family: Liopteridae)

ClassificationLiopteridae keysCynipoidea keys


1. Forewing uniformly infuscate posterior to anterior margin; posterior margins of T3 and T4 broadly emarginate …2

- Forewing basally hyaline, with either one or two infuscate patches posterior and distal to the marginal cell; posterior margins of T3 and T4 straight, not emarginate …4


2. Ventral malar margin, immediately adjacent to mandibular base, distinctly striate ...3

- Ventral malar margin, immediately adjacent to mandibular base, gently shagreened ...Tessmannella nigra Hedicke


3. Distinct clypo-pleurostomal line present; medial facial area shagreened…Tessmannella spinosa Hedicke

- Clypo-pleurostomal line absent; medial facial area horizontally striate…Tessmannella expansa Quinlan


4. Central scutellar area smooth, with a very faint central ridge …Tessmannella copelandi Buffington & van Noort

- Central scutellar area areolate to foveate … 5 


5. Forewing with single distinct infuscate patch throughout marginal cell and immediately posterior; central scutellar area areolate; dorsal and lateral pronotum areolate…Tessmannella roberti Buffington & van Noort

- Forewing with two infuscate patches, one including the marginal cell and space immediately posterior, and a second faint patch that encompasses the entire distal margin of the wing (leaving a small, hyaline area between the distal margin and the marginal cell); central scutellar area foveolate; dorsal and lateral margins of pronotum horizontally striate, resulting a ‘wave-like’ texture…Tessmannella kiplingi Buffington & van Noort


References

Buffington, M.L. & van Noort, S. 2012. Revision of the Afrotropical Oberthuerellinae (Cynipoidea: Liopteridae). ZooKeys 202: 1-154.

Quinlan, J. 1979. A revisionary classification of the Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera) of the Ethiopian Zoogeographical Region. Aspicerinae (Figitidae) and Oberthuerellinae (Liopteridae). Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 39: 85-133.

Ronquist, F. 1995. Phylogeny and classification of the Liopteridae, an archaic group of cynipoid wasps (Hymenoptera). Entomologica Scandinavica Supplement 46: 1-74.

van Noort, S, Buffington ML & Forshage, M. 2015. Afrotropical Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera). ZooKeys 493: 1-176. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.493.6353

Credits

Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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