Subfamily Gasteruptiinae Ashmead, 1900

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Introduction

Almost all Gasteruptiinae belong to the large and cosmopolitan genus, Gasteruption L., although a few species have been assigned recently to three small genera; Plutofoenus Kieffer (3 spp – southern South America), Spinolafoenus Macedo (1 sp. – Chile) and Trilobitofoenus Macedo (3 spp. – Central and South America). In total, more than 400 species have been described, with about a quarter endemic to Australia.

All available host records indicate that species are predator-inquilines in the nests of solitary bees and wasps where they eat the host egg or developing larvae and then consume the pollen store which the host has provided for its developing young.

General References

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