Family AUSTROCYNIPIDAE
Compiler and date details
2 July 2012 - Danielle N. Stringer, John T. Jennings & Andrew D. Austin, Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, and the School of Earth and Environmental Science, The University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Introduction
This family is endemic to Australia and is probably the rarest group of Hymenoptera in that it is known from a single species, Austrocynips mirabilis, and only a handful specimens. It can be recognised by having a pterostigma in the radial cell of the fore wing, the only member of the Cynipoidea to have this character, and the posterior margin of the pronotum protruding over the anterior margin of the mesopleuron rather than these two sclerites abutting each other. Initially described as a subfamily of Cynipidae, it was raised to family rank after Ronquist (1995) showed it to be phylogenetically basal to all other extant members of the superfamily.
Austrocynips mirabilis was reared as a parasitoid from an unknown oecophorid moth (Lepidoptera) in the cone of Araucaria belonging to the archaic conifer family Araucariaceae.
General References
Paretas-Martínez, J., Forshage, M., Buffington, M., Fisher, N. La Salle, J. & Pujade-Villar, J. 2013. Overview of Australian Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera). Australian Journal of Entomology 52: 73–86 [75]
Ronquist, F. 1995. Phylogeny and early evolution of the Cynipoidea. Systematic Entomology 20: 309–335
Ronquist, F. 1999. Phylogeny, classification and evolution of the Cynipoidea. Zoologica Scripta 28: 139–164
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05-Mar-2013 | 05-Mar-2013 | MODIFIED | ||
| 07-Feb-2011 | ADDED |