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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

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited

red & black Wasp with dark smokey wings and long ovipositor

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

Higher taxonomy revised by Sharkey et al. (2006) to include 4 tribes.(1)

Higher taxonomy further revised by Sharkey & Chapman to include 7 tribes.(2)

Explanation of Names

Agathidinae Haliday, 1833

Numbers

~100(3) spp. 15 (+ 1 undescribed) genera in our area,(4) ~2,000 spp. in ~40 genera worldwide

1. Tribe Agathidini: Aerophilus (35 spp.), Agathis, Alabagrus (6 spp.), Neothlipsis, Plesiocoelus, Pneumagathis

2. Tribe Agathirsini: Agathirsia, Crassomicrodus, Gelastagathis

3. Tribe Cremnoptini: Cremnops, Zacremnops

4. Tribe Disophrini: Zelomorpha (3 spp.)

5. Tribe Earinini: Earinus (5 spp.)

6. Tribe Lytopylini: Lytopylus (2 spp.)

7. Tribe Mesocoelini: Therophilus

undescribed gen. nov. (annulipes-group)

Identification

Keys to genera in Sharkey (2004),(3) Sharkey (2006),(5) and Sharkey et al. (2022).(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. Genera 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

Among the many species useful for insect pest control in the Nearctic are: 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 Dr. Michael J. Sharkey, 2007).(7)

Editor's note: further revision has split the former understanding of Bassus into additional genera such that no Bassus 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 M.J. Sharkey. 2004. Proc. Russian Entomol. Soc. 75(1): 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, PaleoJon
Last updated 24 February, 2023 - 11:27pm

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