Liopteridae, Ashmead, 1895

Buffington, Matthew L., Forshage, Mattias, Liljeblad, Johan, Tang, Chang-Ti & Noort, Simon van, 2020, World Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera): A Key to Higher- Level Groups, Insect Systematics and Diversity 4 (2020), No. 1, pp. 1-69 : 35-36

Liopteridae

Figs. 184 –189

As with the ibaliids, most members of this family are rather striking in appearance, often to be found outside the cynipoids in museum collections of Hymenoptera . Some are brightly colored, though most species have a dark, black, and shiny appearance. As mentioned elsewhere, liopterids are among the macrocynipoids: large in size, with horizontally strigate mesoscuta. There are no definitive host records, only anecdotal evidence that they are parasitoids of wood-boring insect larvae ( Ronquist 1995a, Buffington et al. 2012). Four subfamilies are recognized, and species/genera have been often been classified in Cynipidae and other groups.

Liopterids are found worldwide except the western Palearctic Region; most species are found in the tropics and subtropics. Paramblynotus is the most speciose of all liopterid genera, with an incredible diversity of species in southeast Asia. Most liopterids are rarely encountered in the field, though Paramblynotus can be very abundant in Malaise traps during certain times of the year.

Biology. Associated with wood; presumably parasitoids of woodboring insect larvae.

Distribution. Worldwide except western Palearctic Region. Of the subfamilies, Mayrellinae has the same distribution as the entire family, whereas the other are more restricted: Dallatorrellinae : Paleotropical; Oberthuerellinae : Afrotropical; Liopterinae : Neotropical.

Relevant literature. Hedicke and Kerrich (1940) and Ronquist (1995a) revised the family. Liu et al. (2007) revised Paramblynotus . Buffington and van Noort (2012) revised the Oberthuerellinae ; van Noort and Buffington (2013) revised Afrotropical Mayrellinae . Ronquist (1995a) provides a complete overview of the family, keys all the genera, and provides a world catalog. Liu et al. (2007) revises Paramblynotus , the most speciose of all liopterid genera. Van Noort et al. (2015) reviews all sub-Saharan Africa species and provides a key to genera.

Classification.

Liopteridae Ashmead, 1895

Mayrellinae Hedicke, 1922

Kiefferiella Ashmead, 1903 ; 2 species NA

Paramblynotus Cameron, 1908 ; 106 species worldwide except wPA

Dallatorrellinae Kieffer, 1911

Mesocynips Cameron, 1903 ; 1 species OR

Dallatorrella Kieffer, 1911 ; 8 species OR, AU

Oberthuerellinae Hedicke, 1903

Xenocynips Kieffer, 1910 ; 3 species AT

Tessmannella Hedicke, 1912 ; 6 species AT

Oberthuerella Saussure, 1903 ; 18 species AT

Liopterinae Ashmead, 1895

Liopteron Perty, 1833 ; 8 species NT

Peras Westwood, 1837 ; 10 species NT

Pseudibalia Kieffer, 1911 ; 13 species NT

Figures

Plate 3. Liopteridae. Fig. 184, Liopteron sp., USNMENT01231879. Fig. 185, Oberthuerella lenticularis Saussure, 1890, USNMENT00764775. Fig. 186, Peras sp., UFES68459. Figs. 187 and 189, Paramblynotus virginianus, USNMENT01231827.Fig. 188, Paramblynotus sp., USNMENT01231878.