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Classification

Orthocentrinae

of the Afrotropical Region

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

Orthocentrinae Förster, 1869. Type genus: Orthocentrus Gravenhorst, 1829.

Identification keys

 

Aperileptus Förster, 1869

 

Catastenus Förster, 1869

Chilocyrtus Townes, 1971

Eusterinx Förster, 1869
Gnathochorisis Förster, 1869

Megastylus Schiřdte, 1838

Orthocentrus Gravenhorst, 1829

Pantisarthrus Förster, 1871
 

Plectiscidea Viereck, 1914

Plectiscus Gravenhorst, 1829

Proclitus Förster, 1869

Stenomacrus Förster, 1869

Symplecis Förster, 1869

Tariqia Rousse & Villemant, 2012

Distribution

Worldwide.

Biology

Koinobiont endoparasitoids of Mycetophilidae and Sciaridae (Diptera). They comprise 29 genera and about 460 species worldwide.

Diversity

About 460 species in 29 genera.

Diagnosis

Clypeus usually small and convex, sometimes not separated by a groove and forming with face a large and convex area. Mandible slender, thin and blade-like, appearing unidented, malar space often long and with subocular sulcus. Metasomal tergite I with spiracle usually near or in front of middle, ovipositor short to very long.

References

Benoit, P.L.G. (1954) Les Orthocentrinae du Congo belge (Hym. Ichneum.). Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines, 50, 1–6.

Benoit, P.L.G. (1955) Contributions ŕ l'étude de la faune entomologique de Ruanda-Urundi (Missions P. Basilewsky 1953). XXXVIII. Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae (Pars 1). Annales du Musée Royal du Congo Belge, Sciences Zoologiques, 36, 329–346.

Broad GR, Shaw MR, Fitton MG (2018) The ichneumonid wasps of Britain and Ireland (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): their classification and biology. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 7(12): 1–418. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781800625471.0000

Dasch CE 1992. The Ichneumon-flies of America North of Mexico: Part 12. Subfamilies Microleptinae, Helictinae, Cylloceriinae and Oxytorinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 52: 1–470.

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.

Gauld ID (1984) An introduction to the Ichneumonidae of Australia. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 895: 1–413.

Humala, A.E. (2004) A review of the Palaearctic species of the genus Eusterinx Förster, 1868 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society, 75, 64–72.

Humala, A.E., Choi, J.-K. & Lee, J.-W. (2018) Review of the genus Eusterinx Förster (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Orthocentrinae) from South Korea with descriptions of five new species. Entomological Science, 21 (1), 97–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/ens.12287

Humala AE (2007) Orthocentrinae. In: Lelej AS (Ed.) Key to the insects of Russia Far East. Vol. IV. Neuropteroidea, Mecoptera, Hymenoptera. Pt 5. Dalnauka, Vladivostok, 680–717. [in Russian]

Humala AE (2016) A new species of the genus Eusterinx Forster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from Malaysia. Eurasian Entomological Journal 15: 171–174.

Humala AE (2024) First record of the genus Eusterinx Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from the Afrotropical region, with description of a new species from South Africa. Zootaxa 5537(2): 281–287. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5537.2.8

Humala AE (2025) A review of Mexican species of the genus Eusterinx (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae). Zoosystematica Rossica 34(1): 149–159. https://doi.org/10.31610/zsr/2025.34.1.149

Humala AE, Choi JK, Lee JW (2018) Review of the genus Eusterinx Förster (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Orthocentrinae) from South Korea with descriptions of five new species. Entomological Science 21(1): 97–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/ens.122872017

Humala AE, Ruíz-Cancino E (2017) Two new species of the genus Eusterinx (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from Mexico. Zoosystematica Rossica 26(1): 161–166.

Humala, AE, van Noort S. 2025. New records of the genus Eusterinx Förster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from the Afrotropical Region, with description of four new species from Central African Republic, South Africa and Uganda. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98: 817-839. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.98.157523

Khalaim AI, Kasparyan DR, Humala AE (2019) Family Ichneumonidae. In: Belokobylskij SA, Samartsev KG, Il’inskaya AS (Eds) Annotated catalogue of the Hymenoptera of Russia. Vol. II. Apocrita: Parasitica. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute Russian Academy of Sciences. Supplement 8. Zoological Institute RAS, St Petersburg, 340–443.

Humala, AE, van Noort S. 2025. New records of the genus Eusterinx Förster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from the Afrotropical Region, with description of four new species from Central African Republic, South Africa and Uganda. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98: 817-839. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.98.157523

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.

Sheng, M.L., Sun, S.P., Ding, D.S. & Luo, J.G. (2013) Ichneumonid fauna of Jianxi (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Science Press, Beijing, 569 pp. [in Chinese with English summary]

Seyrig, A. (1934) Les Ichneumonides de Madagascar. II Ichneumonidae Tryphoninae et Supplement aux I. Pimplinae. Mémoires de l'Académie Malgache, 19, 1–111.

Seyrig, A. (1935) Mission scientifique de l'Omo. Tome III. Fascicule 18. Hymenoptera, II. Ichneumonidae: Cryptinae, Pimplinae, Tryphoninae et Ophioninae. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 4, 1–100.

van Rossem, G. (1987) A revision of western Palaearctic Oxytorine genera. Part VI. (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, 130, 49–108.

Varga, O. 2021. First record of the genus Gnathochorisis Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from the Afrotropical region, with descriptions of two new species from Kenya. Zootaxa 5052: 441–446. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5052.3.9

Varga, O. 2023. One sample—three new species: an example of species richness of the genus Symplecis Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) in Burundi. Zootaxa, 5311 (2), 289–296. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5311.2.8

Varga, O. 2024. A new species of the genus Chilocyrtus (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Orthocentrinae) from South Africa. Zoodiversity, 58 (2), 163–166. https://doi.org/10.15407/zoo2024.02.163

Varga, O. 2024. Review of the genus Stenomacrus Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from Kenya and Burundi: a first step to understanding the diversity of the genus in the Afrotropics. European Journal of Taxonomy, 958, 177–202. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2024.958.2669

Varga, O. 2024. Two new species of the genus Plectiscus Gravenhorst, 1829 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) from Kenya. Zootaxa, 5453 (2), 291–297. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5453.2.10

Varga, O. 2025. A New Species of the Genus Symplecis (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Orthocentrinae) from Kenya Zoodiversity 59: 499-504. https://doi.org/10.15407/zoo2025.06.499

Varga, O. 2026. Four new species of the genus Eusterinx Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Orthocentrinae) from Burundi and Kenya. Zootaxa 5760 (1): 124–138. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5760.1.6

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 by Agničle Touret-Alby © MNHN (specimens database http://coldb.mnhn.fr), orPhotographs © Olexsandra Varga (Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology), or Photographs © Simon van Noort (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. 2026. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

Copyright 2004-2026 Iziko Museums of South Africa

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