Physotarsus

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Physotarsus
Systematics
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Subordination : Waist Wasps (Apocrita)
Family : Wasps (Ichneumonidae)
Subfamily : Ctenopelmatinae
Tribe : Scolobatini
Genre : Physotarsus
Scientific name
Physotarsus
Townes , 1966

Physotarsus is a genus from the family of parasitic wasps (Ichneumonidae). It is common in South , Central and North America .

features

They are small to medium-sized parasitic wasps. The body length of the individual species is 3.2 to 9.7 millimeters, the length of the forewings is 3.0 to 10.4 millimeters.

The lower ( ventral ) edge of the clypeus is thickened in the middle, but never grown into a tooth-like, pointed thickening as in the related genus Scolobates or Onarion . From the third related genus Catucaba differs Physotarsus by the thickened upper limit of the Clypeus, which is rather thin in Catucaba.

The tarsi of the hind legs are, at least in the males, vesicularly thickened. Hence the name of the genus, which comes from the Greek.

The coloring of the individual species is very different.

distribution

The genus Physotarsus is only found in the New World . Their distribution area extends from northern Argentina , where only one species of the genus is native, through Ecuador , Peru and Brazil to Central America and Mexico as well as to the USA , where there are ten different species, and to Canada in the province of Saskatchewan .

Way of life

Like all parasitic wasps , the Ctenopelmatinae , to which the genus Physotarsus also belongs, are parasitoids , that is, their larvae feed on their hosts that are still alive until they die and the larvae can complete their development with pupation . The Scolobatini tribe only infects brushhorn sawfly (Argidae). The female lays an egg with her laying stinger in the larva of the sawfly, which then develops and serves as food for the parasitic wasp larva.

Only the relationship between the species Physotarsus adriani and its host organism, the brush-horned sawfly Trochophora lobata, is known . It was possible to observe how a parasitic wasp hatched from its host's larva in early November. November is the start of the dry season in Costa Rica , where Physotarsus adriani is found.

Systematics

The genus was established in 1966 by Henry K. Townes . The type species is Tryphon maculipennis Cresson, 1874 from Costa Rica.

The monophyly of the genus can not be represented with certainty on the basis of morphological aspects, since there is no common characteristic ( autapomorphy ). The differentiation of the individual Physotarsus species from the other genera of the Scolobatini tribe is given by the lack of features, for example at the edges of the clypeus.

External system

The tribe Scolobatini includes not only Physotarsus but also the genera

In 2009 the Westwoodiini tribe was separated from the Scolobatini and includes the genera Dictyopheltes , Hypopheltes , Pergaphaga and Westwoodia that occur in Australia and Asia . These are quite large and attack sawfly of the family Pergidae .

species

The genus Physotarsus includes 32 species:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Robert Wharton: Physotarsus Townes, 1966 . The Wharton Lab, Taxon Pages, 2007-2015
  2. ^ Henry K. Townes: Physotarsus . In: Henry K. Townes & Marjorie Townes: A catalog and reclassification of the Neotropic Ichneumonidae. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 8, 139, p. 330, 1966 (first description of the genus)
  3. ↑ Kira Zhaurova & Robert Wharton: Recognition of Scolobatini and Westwoodiini (Hymenoptera, Ctenopelmatinae) and revision of the component genera. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 35, 5, pp. 1-77, 2009
  4. ↑ Kira Zhaurova & Robert Wharton: A revision of Physotarsus Townes (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ctenopelmatinae), with description of 18 new species. Zootaxa, 2207, pp. 1-52, August 2006 PDF
  5. ↑ Alexey Reshchikov & Ilari Eerikki Sääksjärvi: Seven new species of the genus Physotarsus Townes 1966 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from South America. Zootaxa, 3972, 1, pp. 26–42, June 2015 doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.3972.1.2

literature

  • Henry K. Townes: Physotarsus . In: Henry K. Townes & Marjorie Townes: A catalog and reclassification of the Neotropic Ichneumonidae. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 8, 139, p. 330, 1966 (first description of the genus)

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