Aulacidae
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| Hedicke , 1939 |
The Aulacidae are a hymenoptera family. The larvae of all species are parasitoids of wood-dwelling insect larvae. The 220 species are divided into two genera. They are common worldwide, but rare everywhere.
features
The species in the family are usually relatively large and robustly built. Typical of the superfamily of the evanioidea is the attachment of the "abdomen" (metasoma), this is not located on the propodeum as normally deep or in the middle, between the hind hips, but the attachment point is clearly moved upwards. The biological purpose of this modification could be to be able to better position the long ovule for drilling. The Aulacidae differ most strikingly from the other Evanioidea by their negative characteristics. The abdomen is not, as in the Evaniidae , very small and strongly compressed on the sides. In contrast to the Gasteruptiidae , the rear rails are not thickened in a club-like manner and the prothorax is not greatly narrowed towards the front.
In the Aulacidae, the head is always very mobile and set off from the body with a long, narrow "neck". The eyes are relatively small and round. The antennae sit very deep on the head, just above the clypeus (at the lower edge of the complex eyes). The front edge of the clypeus has a clear projection in the middle. The strong mandibles have a semicircular recess on the outside. In the case of the clear wings attached to the fuselage, the veining of the hind wing is greatly reduced. A large and clear wing mark (pterostigma) is formed in the front wing. There is a recess on the hips (coxes) of the hind legs, which serves as a guide for the ovipositor during the act of pricking. The "abdomen" is attached to the propodeum with a small stalk (petiolus), this can be elongated or quite short. The following abdominal segment is always fused with the petiolus segment to form one unit. The length of the ovipositor in females is quite variable between species, but never reaches extreme lengths.
Way of life
All Aulacidae live as parasitoids on insect larvae that dig into wood. As far as is known, the hosts of the species of the genus Aulacus are beetle larvae, while the genus Pristaulacus infects wood wasp larvae of the sword wasp family (Xiphydriidae). The biology of most species is, however, completely unknown, and information is only available for a few species. In the species with known biology, the female of the Aulacidae applies her egg directly to the host egg, which is hidden in the wood. To do this, it bores into the host's drilling or feeding tunnel. The larva hatches as soon as the host larva hatches from the egg. It then eats inside the body of the living host (coinobiont parasitoid). When the host slave is fully grown, the parasitoid larva intensifies its feeding activity and now kills the host larva. It waits until the host larva is ready to pupate. In the sword wasps, the host larvae burrows almost to the surface of the wood at this stage, so that the emerging parasitoid only has to penetrate a small amount of wood. The parasitoid larva pupates in the feeding passage next to its dead host.
The adults of the Aulacidae are mostly observed on dead wood, looking for places to lay eggs. However, there have been a number of observations on flowers, especially of umbellifers, so that it can be assumed that they will at least take in some food at this stage.
distribution
The family and both genera have been recorded from all continents (with the exception of Antarctica). In Europe there is one species of the genus Aulacus and six species of the genus Pristaulacus . Aulacus striatus is known as the parasitoid of the sword wasp Xiphydria camelus . About the distribution cf. for Germany and Austria.
Systematics
The family is counted to the superfamily Evanioidea. According to the consensus, the sister group are the Gasteruptiidae.
Within the family, a recent analysis has shown that the genus Aulacus is very likely to be paraphyletic. A revision is not yet available.
swell
- John T. Jennings & Andrew T. Austin Higher-level phylogeny of the Aulacidae and Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). In: Andrew D. Austin & Mark Dowton: Hymenoptera: evolution, biodiversity and biological control. Csiro Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-643-06610-1
- GF Turrisi & L. Vilhelmsen (2010): Into the wood and back: morphological adaptations to the wood-boring parasitoid lifestyle in adult aulacid wasps (Hymenoptera: Aulacidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 19 (2): 244-258.
- ↑ Joachim Oehlke (1984): Contributions to the insect fauna of the GDR: Hymenoptera - Evanioidea, Stephanoidea, Trigonanlyoidea. Faunistic treatises (Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden) 11 (13): 161-190.
- ↑ Michael Madl (1988): About Aulacidae from Austria (Hymenoptera, Evanioidea). Entomofauna 9 (17): 361-368.
- ^ Giuseppe F. Turrisi, John T. Jennings, Lars Vilhelmsen (2009): Phylogeny and generic concepts of the parasitoid wasp family Aulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). Invertebrate Systematics 23 (1): 27-59. doi : 10.1071 / IS08031
