Family GASTERUPTIIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

• Crosskey, R.W. 1962. The classification of the Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 114: 377-402 [391]
• Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D. 2002. Systematics and distribution of world hyptiogastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae). Invertebrate Systematics 16: 735-811 [742]

Introduction

Gasteruptiidae is represented by perhaps 1500-2000 species worldwide (Jennings and Austin 2002), of which about 500 are described. Gasteruptiids are particularly distinctive because of their slender, subclavate metasoma, the dorsal articulation of the metasoma to the propodeum, the elongate, neck-like propleura, and expanded hind tibia.

The family is divided into three subfamilies:

a. Kotujellitinae - fossil subfamily containing two monotypic genera from the Late Cretaceous of northern Siberia and the mid-Early Cretaceous of Mongolia (Basibuyuk et al. 2002)
b. Gasteruptiidae - extant subfamily with four genera (Jennings and Austin 2000; Macedo 2009)
c. Hyptiogastrinae - extant subfamily with two genera (Jennings and Austin 2000)

In a phylogenetic analysis by Jennings & Austin (2000), Gasteruptiinae (Gasteruption L.) was shown to be a monophyletic group and the sister to Hyptiogastrinae. Jennings & Austin (2002) examined internal relationships within Hyptiogastrinae and recognised just two genera; Hyptiogaster Kieffer which includes all taxa with an exserted ovipositor, and its sister genus Pseudofoenus Kieffer, representing all remaining Hyptiogastrinae (i.e. those with a short and hidden ovipositor). Hyptiogaster is entirely Australian whereas Pseudofoenus has a restricted Gondwanan distribution (Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia,New Guinea, New Zealand and South America).

The larvae of Gasteruptiidae are reported to be predators or predator-inquilines of various solitary bees and wasps (for a summary, see Jennings and Austin 2004).

General References

Basibuyuk, H.H., Rasnitsyn, A.P., Fitton, M.G. & Quicke, D.L.J. 2002. The limits of the family Evaniidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) and a new genus from Lebanese amber. Insect Systematics and Evolution 33: 23-34

Gauld, I. & Bolton, B. (eds) 1996. The Hymenoptera. Oxford : Oxford University Press 2nd Edn., 332 pp.

Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D. 2000. Higher-level phylogeny of the Aulacidae and Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). pp. 154-164 in Austin, A. D. & Dowton, M. (eds). Hymenoptera: Evolution, Biodiversity and Biological Control. Collingwood, Victoria : CSIRO 468 pp.

Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D. 2002. Systematics and distribution of world hyptiogastrine wasps (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae). Invertebrate Systematics 16: 735-811

Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D. 2004. Biology and host relationships of aulacid and gasteruptiid wasps (Hymenoptera: Aulacidae): a review. pp. 187-215 in Rajmohana, K., Sudheer, K., Girish Kumar, P. & Santhosh, S. (eds). Perspectives on Biosystematics and Biodiversity. Kerala, India : University of Calicut 666 pp.

Macedo, A.C.C. 2009. Generic classification for the Gasteruptiinae (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae) based on a cladistic analysis, with the description of two new Neotropical genera and the revalidation of Plutofoenus Kieffer. Zootaxa 2075: 1-32

History of changes