Kleidotoma Westwood, 1833

Noort, Simon van, Buffington, Matthew L. & Forshage, Mattias, 2015, Afrotropical Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera), ZooKeys 493, pp. 1-176 : 102-104

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Figitidae

Kleidotoma Westwood, 1833

Remarks.

Common throughout the Afrotropical region.

Diagnosis.

Usually elongate eucoilines of varying size, in most cases unmistakable through their incised wing apex alone (shared only with Thoreauella of Emargininae), but in forms with indistinctly incised wings (or where the wing shape is not readily visible) there are several other diagnostic characters: patchily reduced wing pubescence and the reduced wing venation with a small triangular marginal cell; fore wing veins of uneven width; distinctly pointed metapleural corner; narrow scutellar plate; and longitudinally striate dorsal surface of the scutellum. May be confused with Hexacola , who share the striate scutellum, the globular head, the often strongly modified male F1 and the sometimes narrow triangular marginal cell, but Hexacola typically have a very large and convex scutellar plate and narrow oblique scutellar foveae - and always a rectangular metapleural corner and a non-incised wing apex.

Kleidotoma is a taxon that is difficult to overview, and globally there are very few recognisable species-groups that are not obviously artificial. There is a general spectrum from tiny, often brown, species with little reduction of wing pubescence, and large, often black, species with very strong reduction of wing pubescence. And there are the aberrant brachypterous taxa (often ripicolous species occuring in algae or wrack, sometimes on isolated islands; but at least in the Holarctic also in ground-dwelling species in grasslands). The wingless or brachypterous forms among Kleidotoma are the only cynipoids with this state found in the Afrotropical region so far (though in other regions, Rhoptromeris and Alloxysta occasionally show brachyptery too, and such specimens may be found in the Afrotropical region). However, beyond what is already said here, we are not at the level of knowledge to start discussing species groups in Kleidotoma in a meaningful way.

Distribution.

Worldwide. Afrotropical records: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe ( Quinlan 1986), St Helena (Dessart 1976), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Gabon, Gambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Yemen (here).

Biology.

Parasitoids of various flies in concealed and mostly decomposing habitats; debris, dung, carrion, fruit, fungi, grass, seawrack, aquatic plants etc. Broad host range, common hosts in other parts of the world include Drosophilidae , Sepsidae , Ephydridae and others ( Baker 1979, Beardsley 1990, 1993, Belizin 1963, Burghele 1959, Carton et al. 1986, Díaz and Gallardo 1996, Driessen et al. 1990, Jonsell et al. 1999, Pont and Meier 2002, Quinlan 1978, Weld 1952, and others; plus additional label data).

Species richness.

Kleidotoma arbitra Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe)

Kleidotoma bifurcata Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Kleidotoma conica Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Kleidotoma distenda Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Africa)

Kleidotoma eala Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Kleidotoma elongula Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Zimbabwe)

Kleidotoma erebus Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Kleidotoma favus Quinlan, 1986 (Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe)

Kleidotoma fimbriata Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Kleidotoma miroscutellaris (Dessart, 1976) ( Polbourdouxia ) (St Helena)

Kleidotoma montana Kieffer, 1910d (Rwanda)

syn Kleidotoma africana Benoit, 1956a nec Kieffer, 1910d (lapsus)

Kleidotoma morsum Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa)

Kleidotoma nigrans Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Kleidotoma nitidiuscula Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Kleidotoma norma Quinlan, 1986 (Zimbabwe)

Kleidotoma strigosa Quinlan, 1986 (Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe)

Kleidotoma ventosa Quinlan, 1986 (Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, South Africa)

Also undescribed species.