Pteromalus Swederus

Gibson, Gary A. P., 2013, Revision of the species of Jaliscoa Bouček within a review of the identity, relationships and membership of Jaliscoa, Catolaccus Thomson, Eurydinoteloides Girault, Lyrcus Walker and Trimeromicrus Gahan (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), Zootaxa 3612 (1), pp. 1-85 : 18-19

Pteromalus Swederus

Pteromalus Swederus, 1795: 201 . Type species: Ichneumon puparum L. (1758), designated by Westwood (1839: 71).

Discussion. Noyes (2012) should be consulted for full generic synonymy of Pteromalus . Dzhanokmen (1998) provided a short description of the genus, but Pteromalus is not characterized by any distinctive features much less any putative apomorphies. As noted by Dzhanokmen (1998: 706), it is “apparently the largest and most taxonomically difficult pteromalid genus”. Essentially, Pteromalus is what remains after other, sometimes monotypic, genera are differentiated based on one or more features.

Noyes (2012) listed 486 available species names for world Pteromalus and 47 species from the Nearctic region. The genus has remained unrevised in the Nearctic region since Girault (1911) provided a key to 11 species under the name Habrocytus Thomson (1878) , now sometimes treated as a subgenus of Pteromalus (see Graham 1969). Consequently, isolated species descriptions of new Nearctic species of Pteromalus should not be encouraged. However, I describe and differentiate the species below so that the description and figures can be used for analysis of the limits and relationships of Pteromalus relative to Catolaccus .