Anaphes, Haliday, 1833

Huber, John T., Read, Jennifer D. & Triapitsyn, Serguei V., 2024, Illustrated key to the genera and catalogue of Mymaridae (Hymenoptera) in the Neotropical region, Zootaxa 5557 (1), pp. 1-263 : 35

ANAPHES Haliday, 1833

( Figs 33–39)

Anaphes Haliday, 1833a: 268 , 1833b: 346. Type species: Anaphes fuscipennis Haliday, 1833 , by designation under the plenary powers of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 2017: 122 ( ICZN 2017). See Huber et al. (2020) for generic synonyms and their type species.

Diagnosis. Body almost always uniformly black or dark brown; face without subantennal sulci and toruli less than their height from transverse trabecula ( Fig. 33a); antenna with fu 1 shorter than each remaining segment and clava 1- ( Fig. 34) or 2-segmented; fore wing with posterior margin straight to distinctly concave, with apex slightly asymmetrical, the anterior margin usually more curved than posterior margin ( Fig. 35), almost always uniformly covered with microtrichia except for two more or less distinct bare areas, the marginal and medial spaces, separated by an oblique row of microtrichia extending from just behind apex of stigmal vein towards wing apex ( Fig. 35); retinaculum with a socketed seta near apex ( Fig. 35); propodeum with median longitudinal sulcus ( Fig. 36); petiole short, not visible ( Fig. 36); gt 1 a thin, narrow and almost vertical panel longitudinally divided by a median sulcus ( Figs 36–38); ovipositor base enclosed in a membranous gastral sac sometimes projecting anteriorly ventral to mesosoma ( Figs 37, 39).

Remarks. Anaphes belongs to the Anaphes group of genera, a rather poorly defined group containing one other genus, Erythmelus . It differs from Erythmelus in having mandibles with 3 distinct teeth that cross over each other when closed. The most well-known species of fairyfly in the Neotropical region is probably Anaphes nitens (Girault) . Before even being identified to genus and species, A. nitens was imported from South Africa into Argentina ( Marelli 1928) and Brazil (Ribeiro et al. 2023) to control an introduced Gonipterus sp. ( Curculionidae ) on Eucalyptus spp. From there it spread to other countries in South America. An additional Australian species of Anaphes , A. tasmania Huber & Prinsloo , was released but so far failed to become established ( Ide et al. 2013a) and A. inexpectatus Huber & Prinsloo was being considered for introduction into Brazil ( Wilcken et al. 2018) and was introduced into Colombia ( Cardeño, 2019). Whether it is successfully established is unknown but it is included here in case its introduction is eventually shown to be successful. Gavio et al. (2024) recorded specimens of an unidntified species from an unknown host in the thalli of a red alga in the marine intertidal zone of a mangrove forest.

Neotropical hosts. Coleoptera : Curculionidae .

Important reference. Huber & Thuróczy (2018).