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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps » Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps (Ichneumonoidea) » Braconid Wasps (Braconidae) » Agathidinae

Subfamily Agathidinae

Representative Images

Cremnops comstocki - female Cremnops haematodes - female Wasp wasp in forest 2 - Alabagrus texanus - female Sphex - Agathirsia nigricauda Braconid or Ichneumon? - female Ichneumon Wasp - female Agathidini? - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps)
Superfamily Ichneumonoidea (Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps)
Family Braconidae (Braconid Wasps)
Subfamily Agathidinae

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

4 tribes recognized in (1), 7 tribes more recently(2)

Explanation of Names

Agathidinae Haliday 1833

Numbers

~100 species(3), 16 genera (+1 undescribed) in our area(4); ~2,000 spp. in ~40 genera worldwide.
Tribe Agathidini: Aerophilus (35 spp.), Agathis, Alabagrus (6 spp.), Aphelagathis (6 spp.) Neothlipsis, Plesiocoelus, Pneumagathis
Tribe Agathirsini: Agathirsia, Crassomicrodus, Gelastagathis
Tribe Cremnoptini: Cremnops, Zacremnops
Tribe Disophrini: Zelomorpha (3 spp.)
Tribe Earinini: Earinus (5 spp.)
Tribe Lytopylini: Lytopylus (2 spp.)
Tribe Mesocoelini: Therophilus, undescribed genus (=annulipes-group)

Identification

Keys to genera in (3)(5)(4)
Fore wing M+CU not tubular in basal 1/3 or more
Fore wing 3RSb terminating at wing margin near stigma and distant from wing apex
Occipital carina absent

Range

Worldwide

Habitat

Most terrestrial habitats. Agathis and Earinus are more species-rich in temperate regions. In Agathis and Crassomicrodus, some species tend toward desert habitat. Other genera most diverse in humid tropics.(6)

Food

hosts: Lepidoptera larvae

Life Cycle

Solitary koinobiont endoparasitoids (a few are gregarious)

Remarks

species useful for pest control in our area include Agathis pumila against larch casebearer; A. stigma and Cremnops laricella against sugarcane borer; & Bassus unicoloratus against potato tuberworm.
"There are three main Agathidine genera with the 'long face' (Agathus, Bassus, and Cremnops). Agathus is almost always entirely black, whereas Bassus and Cremnops are red & black. Cremnops has a carina extending from the lateral margin of the antenna to the lateral ocelli. The carina is absent in Bassus." (Comment by M.J. Sharkey, 2007).(7)
Bassus has been split into several genera; according to the current concept, Bassus do not occur in our area.

Works Cited

1.Revision of the Agathidinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with comparisons of static and dynamic alignments
Sharkey M.J., Laurenne N.M., Sharanowski B., Quicke D.L.J., Murray D. 2006. Cladistics 22: 546–567.
2.Phylogeny of the Agathidinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with a Revised Tribal Classification and the Description of a New Genus
Michael J Sharkey & Eric G Chapman. 2017. Entomological Society of Washington 119(sp1):823-842.
3.Synopsis of the Agathidiinae (Hymenopetra: Braconidae) of America north of Mexico
Sharkey M.J. 2004. Proc. Rus. Ent. Soc. 75: 134‒152.
4.Description of Chilearinus Sharkey gen. nov. and status of Nearctic Earinus Wesmael, 1837 with the description of new species
Michael J. Sharkey, Austin Baker, Ramya Manjunath, & Paul D. N. Hebert. 2022. ZooKeys 1099: 57-86.
5.Two new genera of Agathidinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with a key to the genera of the New World
M. Sharkey. 2006. Zootaxa 1185: 37–51.
6.Manual of the New World Genera of the Family Braconidae (Hymenoptera)
Wharton, R.A., P.M. Marsh, M.J. Sharkey (Eds). 1997. International Society of Hymenopterists.
7.Bassus erythrogaster? (Braconidae) in the Colorado Rockies
Contributed by Eric R. Eaton on 22 February, 2006 - 2:58pm
Additional contributions by josephfortier, Beatriz Moisset, Vox Sciurorum, v belov, Chuck Sexton, PaleoJon
Last updated 1 July, 2024 - 2:56pm

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