Astichus Förster 1856

Neser, Ottilie C., 2012, The first record of Astichus Förster (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Entiinae), parasitoids of Ciidae (Coleoptera) in bracket fungi, from the Afrotropical Region and the description of four new species from South Africa, Zootaxa 3183, pp. 49-64 : 52

Astichus Förster 1856

Astichus Förster, 1856: 78 . Type species: Euderus arithmeticus Förster, 1851 (monotypy).

There are at present 26 described species of Astichus ( Entiinae , formerly Euderinae—see Hansson & Straka 2009) worldwide ( Noyes 2002). Keys to distinguish Astichus from other genera in the Entiinae (= Euderinae ) are included in Bouček 1988 and in Gibson et al. 1997. The most conspicuous generic characters of Astichus females are bright metallic colours on the head and thorax (often striped), dark patterns on the wings (mottled or banded) and funicle dark with at least one pale segment. Males often have the funicle segments pedunculate or with whorls of setae. Association with bracket fungi could be an additional indication that specimens belong to Astichus .

The first Astichus species described was A. arithmeticus Förster , who described it as Euderus arithmeticus (Förster) in 1851, but transferred it to Astichus when he described that genus in 1856. Girault (1913, 1915, 1920, 1927, 1933) described five species from Australia that were later transferred to Astichus by Bouček (1988). Bouček (1963) commented on the genus and described a new species. In the same publication he also created two subgenera, Astichus s. str., comprising most European species, and Astichus ( Linastichus (Bouček) , for A. longevittatus Masi from Europe and A. pulchrilineatus Gahan from North America. Hedqvist (1969) described three species from Europe and redescribed some older species. Tachikawa (1977, 1983, 1984, 1987) described five species from Japan and Borneo. Bouček (1988) placed the Australian species in subgenera— A. mirus (Girault) , A. speciosus (Girault) and A. trifasciatipennis (Girault) in Astichus s. str. and A. bilineatus (Girault) and A. mirissimus (Girault) in A. ( Closteromphale (Girault) = Linastichus ). He considered Astichus grootaerti Bouček , described in the same publication, as intermediate between the two subgenera, along with A. townesi Tachikawa.

Bouček (1963, 1988) defined Astichus s.str. by the following main characters: head and thorax with even and fine reticulation not distinctly connected with colour stripes, propodeum sculptured and long, forewings patterned more or less as in A. arithmeticus (mottled), hind margin of anterior tergites straight, and male funicle segment F1 with peduncle. On the other hand Astichus (Closteromphale) was stated as having the head and thorax regularly and deeply raised-reticulate with coloured longitudinal stripes, propodeum short and smooth with fine median carina, forewings with two cross-stripes, hind margins of T1 and T2 angled, and male F1 without peduncle. The subgeneric placement of the new species is discussed under Discussion.

So far no Astichus species have been recorded from the Afrotropical Region; the four species described here therefore constitute the first record for the Afrotropical Region.