Aphelinidae are minute parasitic wasps that primarily attack whiteflies, armored scales, aphids and other Aphelinidae. Aphelinidae currently includes more than six subfamilies, of which Calesinae and Eriaporinae are often excluded as unplaced subfamilies in Chalcidoidea. Numerous classifications of the included groups have been proposed, but no one classification has been accepted and no characters support the monophyly of the subfamilies. Aphelininae are comprised of 10 genera in four tribes: Aphelinini, Aphytini, Eutrichosomellini and Eretmocerini. The subfamily is defined by possession of a linea calva on the forewing, at most a six-segmented antenna, and a medially divided pronotum. Of the included tribes, Aphelinini are parasites of aphids, whereas members of the other tribes all attack armored scale insects or whiteflies. Aphytis, Aphelinus and Eretmocerus among the most diverse and economically important genera. Higher level groups within Aphelininae are defined by reductions in character states and characters that are homoplastic across Chalcidoidea (linea calva on the forewing and medially divided pronotum). As well, many groups include species that possess one or more plesiomorphic states proposed for Aphelinidae. Molecular data offers a different set of data for assessing relationships that is assumed to be relatively free of environmental or functional variation. In this study, DNA sequences of nuclear 28S-D2 rDNA, 28S-ITS2, and mitochondrial COI and COII were used to evaluate the relationships among tribes and genera in Aphelininae. Relationships based on morphological and molecular data sets are discussed in relation to current and past classifications and the correlation with behavioral traits such as host use and heteronomous parasitism.
Keywords: phylogeny, classification
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA