Phylogeny and classification of the Orussidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera), a basal parasitic wasp taxon

Abstract

The Orussidae is a small family of parasitic wasps, comprising 75 species worldwide. It occupies a key position within the Hymenoptera, being the sistergroup of the Apocrita, a taxon containing all other parasitic wasps. In total, 163 morphological characters were scored for 74 species of Orussidae and five outgroup taxa. The dataset was analysed under different weighting schemes. The results do not support a single phylogenetic hypothesis, but most relationships were retrieved in the majority of the cladistic analyses. Earlier attempts at tribal and subfamily classifications of the Orussidae are not corroborated. Enforcing a strictly cladistic classification at these levels would require the recognition of many redundant taxa without enhancing the information content. It is proposed that formal recognition of tribes and subfamilies within the Orussidae be abandoned. The generic concepts of the family are revised. Sixteen genera are recognized; detailed descriptions and illustrations of each are provided, as is a key to the genera.

Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs)

“…Rather than utilizing these two unnatural but traditional subdivisions, Rasnitsyn (1988) proposed a new infraorder system for the extant apocritan lineages (=suborder Vespina), including Orussomorpha, Evaniomorpha, Proctotrupomorpha, Ichneumonomorpha, and Vespomorpha (more traditionally known as Aculeata). Although Rasnitsyn suggested the Orussoidea were contained within Apocrita, other researchers suggest that the parasitic Orussoidea is the sister group to Apocrita (Sharkey, 2007;Vilhelmsen, 2003). Similar to Brothers (1975), Rasnitsyn proposed a sister relationship between Ichneumonomorpha and Vespomorpha.…”

First Record of the Genus Stirocorsia (Orussidae: Hymenoptera) from Korea

“…Recent hymenopteran phylogenies support a monophyly of the family Orussidae as a sister group of the Apocrita (see Ronquist et al, 1999;Vilhelmsen, 2001). This implies that Orussidae and Apocrita share the common ancestor with the synapomorphic trait, "parasitism" (Vilhelmsen, 2003).…”

“…The two type specimens of O. coreanus collected by Takeuchi were originally reported from North Korea; therefore, no O. coreanus has been reported from South Korea until the Shinohara's collecting record from Mt. Odeasan in 1996 (Vilhelmsen, 2003).…”

“…The Orussidae is a small family with about 75 species in 16 extant genera worldwide (Vilhelmsen, 2003). The family Orussidae is distinguished from other symphytan families by 1) cylindrical body shape; 2) head with ocular corona around median ocellus; 3) antenna inserted below ventral margin of eye; 4) no constriction between 1st and 2nd abdominal segment; and 5) female with long and thin ovipositor.…”

Translucent cuticle and setiferous patches in Megaspilidae (Hymenoptera, Ceraphronoidea)

“…1). These translucent patches may be similar to the smooth patches of cuticle found on the metasoma of in Orussidae and Xiphydriidae (Vilhelmsen 2003), the gastrocoelus and thyridium of Ichneumonidae and Proctotrupidae, and the pseudothyridium which occurs widely across Hymenoptera (Liu et al 2006;Townes 1969). In addition to these translucent patches, all Ceraphronoidea possess patches of setae on the synsternite near the synsternal translucent patches, known as the synsternal setiferous patches (smp) (Mikó and Deans 2009) (Fig.…”