Aspilota Foerster, 1863

Peris-Felipo, Francisco Javier, Santa, Fernando, van Achterberg, Cornelis & Belokobylskij, Sergey A., 2025, Review of the genera and subgenera of the subtribe Aspilotina (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae), with a new illustrated key, ZooKeys 1229, pp. 133-200 : 133-200

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1229.142489

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9EE07D11-A890-4009-BDA7-92ABF8540512

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3A5B8B7C-F6B2-50C2-9127-4F48F518B8BE

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ZooKeys by Pensoft (2025-02-26 15:25:51, last updated 2025-02-26 15:27:30)

scientific name

Aspilota Foerster, 1863
status

 

Genus Aspilota Foerster, 1863 View in CoL View at ENA

Figs 4 View Figure 4 , 5 View Figure 5 , 6 View Figure 6 , 7 View Figure 7 , 8 View Figure 8 , 9 View Figure 9

Aspilota Foerster, 1863: 268; Shenefelt 1974: 966; Wharton 1980: 84; van Achterberg 1988: 9; Chen and Wu 1994: 49; Belokobylskij 1998 a: 218; Wharton 2002: 34; Yu et al. 2016. View in CoL

Dipiesta Foerster, 1863: 268 (synonymised with Aspilota Foerster by Szépligeti (1904)).

Eusynaldis Zaykov & Fischer, 1982: 70; van Achterberg 1988: 9 (as synonym of Aspilota Foerster); Zhu et al. 2017: 19; Peris-Felipo and Belokobylskij 2019: 21.

Regetus Papp, 1999: 391; Fischer 2002: 101; Zhu et al. 2017: 19 (as synonym of Aspilota Foerster). View in CoL

Grandilota Fischer, 2002: 103; Yu et al. 2016. View in CoL

Adelphenaldis Fischer, 2003: 41; Peris-Felipo et al. 2012: 287; 2014 b: 571; Yu et al. 2016; Zhu et al. 2017: 19 (as synonym of Aspilota Foerster). View in CoL

Type species.

Alysia ruficornis Nees von Esenbeck, 1834 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis.

Mandible small, simple, tridentate, often with upper (first) tooth diminished with respect to lower (third) tooth. Paraclypeal fovea large, reaching inner margin of eyes. Mesoscutum with or without medio-posterior pit; notauli present only in anterior part of mesoscutum; precoxal sulcus almost always present; propodeum smooth or more common with different types of sculpture and sometimes with longitudinal and / or transverse carinae, rarely forming areas. In fore wing, marginal cell never shortened; vein r originating from basal quarter of pterostigma; vein 2 - SR often present and usually distinctly sclerotised but absent in subgenus Eusynaldis ; veins m-cu and cu-a postfurcal; first subdiscal cell always closed postero-apically by vein CU 1 a. In hind wing, subbasal cell usually closed. Metasoma of ♀ more or less distinctly compressed laterally; second tergite always smooth. Ovipositor sheath usually not longer than metasoma.

Remarks.

Members of the genus Aspilota are frequently encountered as they are one of the most common genera among Alysiini wasps. It is mainly distributed in forested and humid areas of the Holarctic region and only a few species have been already recorded from other zoogeographic regions. This genus is undersampled in the tropics where their main hosts ( Phoridae ) have the greatest diversity.

Aspilota species are koinobiont endoparasitoids of larvae, mainly of the family Phoridae ( Diptera ). Previous reports established Aspilota as parasitoid of the families Anthomyiidae , Lonchaeidae , Muscidae , Platypezidae , Sarcophagidae , Syrphidae , and Tephritidae . However, these hosts need to be especially reconfirmed. The records of lepidopterous and hymenopterous larvae as hosts (families Erebidae , Bucculatricidae , Lasiocampidae , and Tortricidae , and family Tenthredinidae , respectively) are extremely doubtful because the known biology and perhaps were concerned to the Phoridae living in dead larvae of the species from these families.

The genus Aspilota contains three subgenera, Aspilota sensu stricto, Eusynaldis Zaykov & Fischer, 1982 , and Grandilota Fischer, 2002 .

Belokobylskij SA (1998 a) 9. Alysiinae (Alysiini). In: Lehr PA (Ed.) Key to insects of the Russian Far East. Vol. 4. Neuropteroidea, Mecoptera, Hymenoptera. Pt 3. Dal’nauka, Vladivostok, 162–298. [In Russian]

Peris-Felipo FJ, Broad GR, Belokobylskij SA, Jiménez-Peydró R (2014 b) Three new Adelphenaldis species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae) from Africa, with first descriptions of the female of A. subsurrectionis (Fischer) and the male of A. claricornis. African Entomology 22 (3): 561–576. https://doi.org/10.4001/003.022.0318

Chen JH, Wu ZS (1994) The Alysiini of China (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae). China Agricultural Press, Fuzhou, 218 pp. [In Chinese, with English summary]

Fischer M (2002) Übersicht über die Gattungen der Aspilota - Genusgruppe mit Neubeschreibung von Grandilota nov. gen. sowie Redeskription von Regetus Papp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae). Zeitschrift der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Oesterreichischer Entomologen 54 (3–4): 99–108.

Fischer M (2002) Ubersicht uber die Gattungen der Aspilota - Genusgruppe mit Neubeschreibung von Grandilota nov. gen. sowie Redeskription von Regetus Papp (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae). Zeitschrift der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Oesterreichischer Entomologen 54 (3 - 4): 99-108.

Fischer M (2003) Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Gattungen Synaldis Foerster und Adelphenaldis Fischer, gen. nov. (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae). Linzer biologische Beitrage 35 (1): 19-74.

Foerster A (1863) Synopsis der Familien und Gattungen der Braconiden. Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der Preussischen Rheinlande und Westfalens 19: 225-288.

Papp J (1999) Regetus balcanicus gen. et sp. nov. from Yugoslavia (Hymenoptera, Braconidae: Alysiinae, Alysiini). Entomofauna 20 (24): 389-396.

Peris-Felipo FJ, Belokobylskij SA, Jiménez-Peydró R (2012) Genus Adelphenaldis Fischer, 2003 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae) in Spain, with a key to the world species. Annales zoologici 62 (2): 287–296. https://doi.org/10.3161/000345412X652828

Peris-Felipo FJ, Belokobylskij SA (2019) New Australasian species from the subgenus Eusynaldis of the genus Aspilota Foester, 1863 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae) with a key to World species. Bulletin of Insectology 72 (1): 21–27.

Shenefelt RD (1974) Pars II. Braconidae 7. Alysiinae. In van der Vecht, J. and Shenefelt R. D., Hymenopterorum Catalogus (nova editio). Dr. W. Junk, The Hague, 937–1113.

Szépligeti G (1904) Hymenoptera. Family Braconidae. Genera Insectorum 22: 1–253.

van Achterberg C (1988) The genera of the Aspilota - group and some descriptions of fungicolous Alysiini from the Netherlands (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae). Zoologische Verhandelingen Leiden 247: 1–88.

Wharton RA (1980) Review of New World Alysiini (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) with discussion of generic relationships within the tribe. University of California Publications in Entomology 88: 1–104.

Wharton RA (2002) Revision of the Australian Alysiini (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Invertebrate Systematics 16: 7–105. https://doi.org/10.1071/IT01012

Yu DS, van Achterberg C, Horstmann K (2016) Taxapad 2016, Ichneumonoidea 2015. Database on flash-drive. Ottawa, Ontario.

Zaykov AN, Fischer M (1982) On three extraordinary Alysiinae from Bulgaria (Hym., Braconidae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 19: 70-74.

Zhu J, van Achterberg C, Chen X-X (2017) An illustrated key to the genera and subgenera of the Alysiini (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Alysiinae), with three genera new for China. ZooKeys 722: 37–779. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.722.14799

Gallery Image

Figure 4. Aspilota (Aspilota) ajara Peris-Felipo, 2016 (holotype, female) A habitus, lateral view B head and mesosoma, lateral view C mandible D antenna E head, front view F head and mesonotum, dorsal view.

Gallery Image

Figure 5. Aspilota (Aspilota) ajara Peris-Felipo, 2016 (holotype, female) A propodeum B first metasomal tergite, dorsal view C legs, metasoma and ovipositor, lateral view D fore and hind wings.

Gallery Image

Figure 6. Aspilota (Eusynaldis) varinervis (Zaykov & Fischer, 1972) (holotype, male) A habitus, lateral view B head and mesosoma, lateral view C mandible D antenna E head, front view F head and mesonotum, dorsal view.

Gallery Image

Figure 7. Aspilota (Eusynaldis) varinervis (Zaykov & Fischer, 1972) (holotype, male) A propodeum B first metasomal tergite, dorsal view C hind leg, lateral view D fore wing.

Gallery Image

Figure 8. Aspilota (Grandilota) kenyaensis (Fischer, 2002), comb. nov. (holotype, female) A habitus, lateral view B head and mesosoma, lateral view C mandible D antenna E head, front view F head, dorsal view.

Gallery Image

Figure 9. Aspilota (Grandilota) kenyaensis (Fischer, 2002), comb. nov. (holotype, female) A mesonotum, dorsal view B propodeum. C legs, metasoma and ovipositor, lateral view D first metasomal tergite, dorsal view E fore and hind wings.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Braconidae