Genus Orthostigma Ratzeburg, 1844

Figs 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41

Orthostigma Ratzeburg, 1844: 53; Königsmann 1969: 2; Shenefelt 1974: 997; Wharton 1980: 85; Tobias 1986: 117; van Achterberg 1988: 44; Chen and Wu 1994: 99; Fischer 1995: 670; Belokobylskij 1998 a: 209; Fischer 2002: 102; Wharton 2002: 91; Belokobylskij and Tobias 2007: 10; Yu et al. 2016; Zhu et al. 2017: 68.

Africostigma Fischer, 1995: 677 (as subgenus of Orthostigma); Yu et al. 2016; Peris-Felipo and Belokobylskij 2020: 411.

Patrisaspilota Fischer, 1995: 721; Fischer 2002: 102; 2004: 78; 2010: 636; Wharton 2002: 91 (as subgenus of Orthostigma); Yu et al. 2016; Peris-Felipo et al. 2019: 366; Peris-Felipo and Belokobylskij 2020: 412.

Whartonstigma Peris-Felipo in Peris-Felipo and Belokobylskij 2020: 412 (as subgenus of Orthostigma).

Type species.

Aphidius flavipes Ratzeburg, 1844: 71, by monotypy.

Synonyms.

Delocarpa Foerster, 1863; Ischnocarpa Foerster, 1863; Patrisaspilota Fischer, 1995; Africostigma Fischer, 1995; Whartonstigma Peris-Felipo, 2020 .

Diagnosis.

Mandible small, tridentate and with a wide ventral lobe as third tooth, with complete submedial transverse curved carina. Paraclypeal fovea short, far distant from inner margin of eyes. First flagellar segment usually longer or sometimes as long as second flagellar segment (slightly shorter in subgenus Africostigma). Mesoscutum usually with mesoscutal pit; notauli often present only in anterior part of mesoscutum, but in subgenus Patrisaspilota notauli almost reaching mesoscutal pit; precoxal sulcus always present; propodeum usually with different types of sculpture and sometimes with longitudinal or transverse carinae, rarely almost smooth. In fore wing, marginal cell never shortened; vein r originating from basal quarter of pterostigma; vein 2 - SR usually distinctly sclerotised (but absent in subgenus Whartonstigma); veins m-cu and cu-a postfurcal; first subdiscal cell always closed postero-apically by vein CU 1 a. Metasoma of ♀ more or less distinctly laterally compressed. Ovipositor sheath usually not longer than metasoma.

Remarks.

This genus includes more than 60 described species and is easily separated from other genera in the Aspilota group by the presence of the peculiar structure of mandible with complete transverse and curved submedial carina and usually wide lobe-shaped third tooth.

Currently four subgenera are recognised within this genus, Africostigma Fischer, 1995, Orthostigma sensu stricto, Patrisaspilota Fischer, 1995, and Whartonstigma Peris-Felipo, 2020 (Peris-Felipo and Belokobylskij 2020).