Nixonia Masner, 1958

van Noort, Simon & Johnson, Norman, 2009, New species of the plesiomorphic genus Nixonia Masner (Hymenoptera, Platygastroidea, Platygastridae) from South Africa, ZooKeys 20 (20), pp. 31-51 : 34

Nixonia Masner

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E56C690B-55E3-4977-B7CF-6493DEF73E6C

Nixonia Masner, 1958: 101 . Original description. Type: Nixonia pretiosa Masner , by monotypy and original designation. For subsequent taxonomic literature see Johnson (1992) or The Genera of Platygastroidea of the World (http://purl.oclc.org/ NET/ hymenoptera /platygastroidea).

Diagnosis. Nixonia is superficially similar to Scelio Latreille , and to the larger, more elongate species of Macroteleia Westwood and Triteleia Kieffer. Nixonia is distinguished by the 14segmented, nonclavate antennae; the strong medial propodeal tooth; and the presence of two tibial spurs on both the mid-and hind tibiae.

Distribution. Nixonia species richness is centered in southern Africa, but distribution extends north to Egypt, Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire). A single species, N. krombeini , is found in Sri Lanka, northern India, and southeast Asia (Th ailand, Laos, and Vietnam). See http://hol.osu.edu/ map-large.html?id=523 for distribution map.

Biology. Only one species has been reared: Nixonia watshami a parasitoid of the eggs of A. discoidalis (Walker, 1869) ( Orthoptera : Tettigoniidae , Hetrodinae ). The subfamily Hetrodinae is endemic to Africa and adjacent areas of the Arabian Peninsula (Otte et al. 2009) and all 14 genera are likely to play hosts for Nixonia species. Th e host, however, of at least N. krombeini which occurs outside the range of Heterodinae in tropical Asia must be some other large orthopteran ( Johnson and Masner 2006).