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Identification keys

Scelionidae

Classification and checklist of  Afrotropical scelionid wasps

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

Comments

The classification presented here follows Chen et al. 2021. Finally a comprehensive phylogenetic assessment based on both morphological and molecular data to formulate a revised classification of Platygastroidea has been completed. Murphy et al. (2007) conducted a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the entire Platygastroidea in which the Platygastridae was supported as a monophyletic group nested within Scelionidae. As a result the Scelionidae were retrieved as polyphyletic, but the classification was not revised because of low support for many of the deeper nodes in the cladogram, and inadequate taxon sampling (less than a quarter of the valid genera in the superfamily were included in their analyses). Based on the results of Murphy et al. (2007), Sharkey (2007) formally synonymised Scelionidae with Platygastridae. Subsequently McKellar & Engel (2012) raised the tribes Sparasionini and Nixonini to family level and recognized four families: Nixoniidae, Sparasionidae, Scelionidae and Platygastridae, but in Ortega-Blanca et al. (2014) they treated placement of these two tribes within the Platygastroidea as incertae sedis recognizing only two families: Scelionidae and Platygastridae. These higher classification changes made by Sharkey (2007) and McKellar & Engel (2012) were largely not accepted (Talamas & Buffington, 2015; Popovici et al. 2017). With a revised classification having recently been published supported by robust phylogenetic data (Chen et al. 2021) this latest classification schema is now followed.

References

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McKellar, R.C. & Engel, M.S. 2012. Hymenoptera in Canadian Cretaceous amber (Insecta). Cretaceous Research 35: 258-279.

Ortega-Blanco, J., McKellar, R.C. & Engel, M.S. 2014. Diverse scelionid wasps in Early Cretaceous amber from Spain (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea). Bulletin of Geosciences 89: 553–571.

Popovici OA, Vilhelmsen L, Masner L, Mikó I & Johnson N. 2017. Maxillolabial complex in scelionids (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea): morphology and phylogenetic implications. Insect Systematics & Evolution 48: 1-125.

Sharkey, M., 2007. Phylogeny and classification of Hymenoptera. Zootaxa 1668: 521–548.

Sharkey, M. J., Carpenter, J. M., Vilhelmsen, L., Heraty, J., Liljeblad, J., Dowling, A. P.G., Schulmeister, S., Murray, D., Deans, A. R., Ronquist, F., Krogmann, L. and Wheeler, W. C. 2012. Phylogenetic relationships among superfamilies of Hymenoptera. Cladistics 28: 80–112. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00366.x

Taekul, C., Valerio, A.A., Austin, A.D., Klompen, H. & Johnson, N.F. (2014. Molecular phylogeny of telenomine egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae s.l.: Telenominae): evolution of host shifts and implications for classification. Systematic Entomology 39: 24–35.

Talamas EJ, Buffington ML 2015. Fossil Platygastroidea in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 47: 1–52. doi: 10.3897/JHR.47.5730

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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