Anaphes, Haliday, 1833

Huber, John T., Read, Jennifer D. & Triapitsyn, Serguei V., 2021, Illustrated key to the genera and catalogue of Mymaridae (Hymenoptera) in the Afrotropical region, Zootaxa 5036 (1), pp. 1-166 : 18

ANAPHES Haliday, 1833

( Figs 38–42 )

Anaphes Haliday, 1833a: 268, 1833b: 346 . Type species: Anaphes fuscipennis Haliday, 1833 , by designation under the plenary powers of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 2017: 122 ( ICZN 2017). See Huber et al. (2020) for generic synonyms and their type species.

Diagnosis. Body almost always uniformly black or dark brown ( Fig. 41 ); fore wing with posterior margin straight to distinctly concave, with apex slightly asymmetrical (anterior margin usually more curved than posterior margin), and with membrane almost always uniformly covered with microtrichia except for two more or less distinct bare areas, the marginal and medial spaces [very small in A. nitens (Girault) ], separated by an oblique row of microtrichia extending from just behind apex of stigmal vein towards wing apex ( Fig. 40 ); retinaculum with a socketed seta near apex; petiole a thin, narrow and almost vertical crescent longitudinally divided medially; gt 1 divided medially by a longitudinal sulcus; ovipositor base sometimes enclosed in a somewhat membranous gastral sac projecting anteriorly ventral to mesosoma.

Discussion. Anaphes belongs to the Anaphes group of genera, a rather poorly defined group ( Lin et al. 2007). In the Afrotropical region this group also includes Erythmelus . Anaphes differs from Erythmelus in having normal mandibles, crossing when closed, and with at least 3 well developed teeth, whereas Erythmelus has greatly reduced mandibles without teeth.

The most well known species of fairyfly in the Afrotropical region is Anaphes nitens , imported from Australia into South Africa to control an introduced Gonipterus sp. ( Coleoptera : Curculionidae ) on Eucalyptus spp. An additional Australian species was more recently imported for the same purpose but apparently but was not yet released.

Afrotropical hosts. Coleoptera .

Important reference. Huber & Thuróczy (2018).

Figures

FIGURES 38–40. A. (Anaphes) sp. 38, head, anterior; 39, antenna; 40, wings. Scale bars: 38 = 100 μm; 39, 40 = 200 μm.

FIGURES 41, 42. A. (Anaphes) sp. 41, mesosoma, dorsal; 42a, metasoma dorsal; 42b, genitalia seen through gaster. Scale bars = 200 μm.