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Sparasionidae Dahlbom

Sparasionid wasps of the World

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

Sparasionidae Dahlbom, 1858: 290 (original description; diagnosis).
Type genus. Sparasion Latreille, 1802
 

ClassificationIdentification keys

  Archaeoteleia Masner, 1968
  Electroteleia† Brues, 1940
  Mexon Masner & Johnson, 2008
  Listron Musetti & Johnson, 2008
  Sceliomorpha Ashmead, 1893

Sparasion Latreille, 1802

Distribution

Afrotropical, Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental, Palaearctic regions.

Biology

Egg parasitoid of Orthoptera (Tettigoniidae, Rhaphidophoridae).

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

Chen H-Y, Lahey Z, Talamas EJ, Valerio AA,  Popovici OA, Musetti L, Klompen H, Polaszek A, Masner L, Austin AD, Johnson NF. 2021. An integrated phylogenetic reassessment of the parasitoid superfamily Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupomorpha) results in a revised familial classification. Systematic Entomology 46(4): 1088-1113.

https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12511

Johnson, N.L., Masner, L & Musetti, L. 2008. Review of genera of the Tribe Sparasionini (Hymenoptera: Platygastroidea, Scelionidae), and description of two new genera from the New World. American Museum Novitates 3629. 1-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/578.1

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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