Alysiinae update

Authors: Kula, Robert

Submitted to: Manual of the New World Genera of the Family Braconidae(Hymenoptera)
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/29/2017
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Alysiinae is a subfamily of koinobiont endoparasitoids of cyclorrhaphous Diptera with ~2,321 described species worldwide. The subfamily contains two tribes: Alysiini and Dacnusini. Most species of Alysiini parasitize saprophagous flies; all species of Dacnusini parasitize plant-feeding flies. Species from both tribes have been used in biocontrol, although dacnusines have been used more extensively and successfully. Dacnusines have also been reported as parasitoids of weed biocontrol agents and may be biocontrol antagonists. Species richness for both tribes is highest in the Nearctic Region, but many species in the neotropics are undescribed, especially for Alysiini. Taxonomic works on Alysiini over the last 20 years have mostly treated species in the neotropics. There are substantially fewer undescribed Neotropical species of Dacnusini, and taxonomic treatments over the last 20 years have treated Nearctic species almost exclusively. Research on evolutionary relationships for Alysiinae has focused on phylogenetic placement relative to non-alysiine braconids. Contemporary hypotheses of evolutionary relationships among species of Alysiinae are virtually non-existent, with published phylogenies for Chaenusa Haliday and Heratemis Walker only.