Subfamily Braconinae

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Regional Maps

Introduction

This subfamily comprises small to large braconids that are often easily identified by the circular depressed labrum above the mandibles (cyclostome condition), lack of an occipital carina, and usually a rectangular second submarginal cell in the fore wing.

The group is worldwide in distribution and extremely speciose, particularly in tropical and subtropical habitats. Over 100 species are described for Australia, but like other diverse subfamilies this represents probably less than 20% of the fauna. Braconines are mostly ectoparasitic on lepidopteran larvae but several species are also known to parasitise concealed dipteran and sawfly larvae.

Excluded Taxa

Other Excluded

BRACONIDAE: Acrocerilia van Achterberg, 1989 [only Australian species (Acrocerilia tricolor) currently placed in Trigastrotheca Cameron, 1906, see Quick et al. (2024)] — Quicke, D.L.J., Van Noort, S., Ranjith, A.P., Friedman, A.L.L., Mejlon, H. & Butcher, B.A. 2024. Revision of Trigastrotheca Cameron (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Braconinae) with descriptions of 13 new species. ZooKeys 1205: 115-167 [155]

General References

Quicke, D.L.J. & Ingram, S.N. 1993. Braconine wasps of Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 33: 299-336

History of changes