Phylogenetics and classification of Chalcidoidea and Mymarommatoidea — a review of current concepts (Hymenoptera, Apocrita)

Abstract

Classification and morphological and molecular evidence supporting relationships of Mymarommatidae (Mymarommatoidea) and the 20 families of Chalcidoidea are reviewed. Five autapomorphies support monophyly of Mymarommatoidea, at least two autapomorphies support monophyly of Chalcidoidea, and three synapomorphies support a sister‐group relationship between Mymarommatoidea and Chalcidoidea. Mymaridae are indicated as the likely sister group of all other Chalcidoidea by: two features of the ovipositor, the unique structure of a muscle between the mesofurca and axillary lever, and sequence data from the 28s rDNA gene. Structure of the upper valvulae of the ovipositor could indicate Rotoitidae as the second‐most basal clade of Chalcidoidea. Chalcididae, Elasmidae, Encyrtidae, Eulophidae, Eurytomidae, Leucospidae, Mymaridae, Ormyridae, Rotoitidae, Signiphoridae, Torymidae and Trichogrammatidae are each indicated as monophyletic by at least one putative synapomorphy, but could render other families paraphyletic. Aphelinidae, Eupelmidae, Pteromalidae, and Tetracampidae are not demonstrably monophyletic. Agaonidae is monophyletic only if restricted to Agaoninae, and Eucharitidae is monophyletic only if restricted to Eucharitinae + Oraseminae. Eupelmidae may be paraphyletic with respect to Tanaostigmatidae and Encyrtidae, and Tanaostigmatidae including Cynipencyrtus may be paraphyletic relative to Encyrtidae. Perilampidae (Perilampinae + Chrysolampinae) are either polyphyletic or paraphyletic with respect to Eucharitidae + Akapalinae + Philomidinae. No cladistic hypotheses of familial relationships based on character evidence have considered the superfamily in its entirety.

Phylogenetic relationships of egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and correlated life history characteristics of their Neotropical Cassidinae hosts (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae)

“…Molecular data (Gauthier et al, 2000) supported Eulophinae as a derived group and suggests that Euderinae may be the most primitive. Euderinae and Tetrastichinae appear closely related to each other (Graham, 1987;Gibson et al, 2000). Knowing that, the genus Aprostocetus (Tetrastichinae) can be considered to be primitive in regards to the genera Horismenus and Emersonella.…”

“…Bipartitions of this consensus gene tree were kept whenever they were present in at least three of the four source trees. The Eulophidae have been shown to be a monophyletic group (LaSalle and Schauff, 1995;LaSalle et al, 1997;Gibson et al, 2000), and we used two Signiphoridae sequences to root our trees. Signiphoridae have been shown to be monophyletic (Woolley, 1988) and both Eulophidae and Signiphoridae belong to the Chalcidoidea superfamily.…”

“…Signiphoridae have been shown to be monophyletic (Woolley, 1988) and both Eulophidae and Signiphoridae belong to the Chalcidoidea superfamily. However, the relationship of Signiphoridae with other families is problematic and the Signiphoridae have sometimes been treated as a subfamily in Aphelinidae, Encyrtidae or Eulophidae (Gibson et al, 2000). Depending on the author, Signiphoridae are sometimes included in the "pteromalid" lineage (Gibson et al, 2000), and sometimes in the "eulophid" lineage, as a sister family to the Eulophidae (Noyes, 1990).…”

“…However, the relationship of Signiphoridae with other families is problematic and the Signiphoridae have sometimes been treated as a subfamily in Aphelinidae, Encyrtidae or Eulophidae (Gibson et al, 2000). Depending on the author, Signiphoridae are sometimes included in the "pteromalid" lineage (Gibson et al, 2000), and sometimes in the "eulophid" lineage, as a sister family to the Eulophidae (Noyes, 1990). Nevertheless, Signiphoridae were close enough phylogenetically to the Eulophidae to be used as an outgroup in our study.…”

“…This guild was dominated by hymenopteran egg parasitoids in the family Eulophidae. As the largest family of Chalcidoidea, containing an estimated 3980 species in 283 genera (Gibson et al, 2000), the Eulophidae comprise four subfamilies: the Euderinae, Eulophinae, Tetrastichinae and Entedoninae (Cox, 1994). All four subfamilies are characterized by both molecular and morphological synapomorphies (Gauthier et al, 2000).…”