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Key to apterous and brachypterous Cynipoidea

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera;  Superfamily: Cynipoidea

ClassificationCynipoidea keys
1. Scutellum with raised ovate plate (A, B, arrows) ...Figitidae: Eucoilinae

— Scutellum without plate (a, b) ...2

2. Metasoma at least twice the size of the mesosoma (A, B). Only females brachypterous or apterous ...Cynipidae: Cynipini (alternate generation of winged forms)

— Metasoma about the size of the mesosoma (a, b). Females or males brachypterous (b) or apterous ...3

3. Mesoscutellar foveae apparently absent (B). Base of metasoma usually with conspicuous setose patch (A, B). Both sexes brachypterous or apterous ....Figitidae: Charipinae


—Mesoscutellar foveae conspicuously impressed (a, arrow). Base of metasoma without abundant setae (b). Only with brachypterous males (b) ...Cynipidae: Phanacidini

Reference

 Nastasi LF, Davis CK, Nieves-Aldrey JL, Buffington ML, van Noort S, Deans AR. 2024. Review of herb gall wasp tribes (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), with an updated key to cynipid tribes and a checklist of world species.

Credits

Photographs © Matt Buffington (Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA/ARS).

Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2025. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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