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Ophioninae

of the Afrotropical Region

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

Ophioninae Shuckard, 1840. Type genus: Ophion Fabricius, 1798

Enicospilini

Ophionini

Thyreodonini

Euryphion_nigripennis_HOLOTYPE

Tribe incertae sedis

Distribution

Worldwide.

Biology Koinobiont parasitoids of Lepidoptera. One species is known to parasitize Scarabeidae (Coleoptera). Nocturnal.
Diversity About 1020 species in 33 genera.
Diagnosis Clypeus separated from face by a groove. Ocelli large, lateral ocelli separated from eyes by less than their own diameter. Antenna long and slender with often more than 55 flagellomeres. Fore wing with areolet open (3Rs-m absent) and vein 2Rs-m almost always apical to 2m-Cu, resulting in an elongate disco-submarginal cell. Metasomal tergite I long, without glymma, without trace of tergal-sternal suture, the spiracle at apex. Metasoma strongly com-pressed laterally. Ovipositor short, at maximum equal to apical metasomal height, with dorsal subapical notch. Color most often pale yellowish or brownish. Ophioninae are easily distinguishable though they could be confounded with Netelia which are also large pale nocturnal species often attracted by light traps (Rousse & Villemant, 2012).

References

Fitton, M.G. and Gauld, I.D. 1976. The family-group names of the Ichneumonidae (excluding Ichneumoninae) (Hymenoptera). Systematic Entomology 1: 247-258.

Förster, A. 1869. Synopsis der Familien und Gattungen der Ichneumonen. Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der Preussischen Rheinlande und Westfalens 25: 135-221.

Gadallah N.S., Soliman A.M., Rousse P. & Al Dhafer H.M. 2017. The genus Enicospilus Stephens, 1835 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ophioninae) in Saudi Arabia, with twelve new species records and the description of five new species. European Journal of Taxonomy 365: 1–69. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2017.365

Gauld, I.D. & Mitchell, P.A. 1978. The taxonomy, distribution and host preferences of African parasitic wasps of the subfamily Ophioninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, Slough, England, 287 pp.

Gauld, I.D. 1982. A revised key of the Enicospilus antefurcalis (Szépligeti) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) species group of the Afrotropical region. Bulletin of Entomological Research 72: 33–38.

Rousse, P. & Villemant, C. 2012. Ichneumons in Reunion Island: a catalogue of the local Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) species, including 15 new taxa and a key to species. Zootaxa 3278: 1–57.

Rousse, P. & van Noort, S. 2014. Afrotropical Ophioninae (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae): an update of Gauld & Mitchell's revision, including two new species and an interactive matrix identification key. ZooKeys 456: 59–73. doi:10.3897/zookeys.456.8140

Rousse P, Quicke DLJ, Matthee CA, Lefeuvre P & van Noort S. 2016. A molecular and morphological reassessment of the phylogeny of the subfamily Ophioninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 178: 128–148. doi: 10.1111/zoj.12405

Quicke, D.L.J. ; Fitton, M.G.; Broad, G.R.; Crocker, B.; Laurenne, N.M.; Miah, M.I. 2005. The parasitic wasp genera Skiapus, Hellwigia, Nonnus, Chriodes, and Klutiana (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae): recognition of the Nesomesochorinae stat. rev. and Nonninae stat. nov. and transfer of Skiapus and Hellwigia to the Ophioninae. Journal of Natural History 39(27): 2559-2578.

Yu D.S., van Achterberg, K., Horstmann, K. 2011. World Ichneumonoidea 2011. Taxonomy, biology, morphology and distribution. Available from Vancouver, Canada: Taxapad. www.taxapad.com

Credits

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

Acaenitinae; Anomaloninae; Banchinae; Brachycyrtinae; Sisyrostolinae; Campopleginae; Cremastinae; Cryptinae; Ctenopelmatinae; Diplazontinae; Eucerotinae; Ichneumoninae; Lycorininae; Mesochorinae; Metopiinae; Ophioninae; Orthocentrinae; Pimplinae; Rhyssinae; Tersilochinae; Tryphoninae; Xoridinae


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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