Roger A Burks

• University of California, Riverside

Hetreulophidae contains four morphologically striking but poorly known genera, Hetreulophus from Australia, Zeala from New Zealand, Omphalodipara from Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, and Divna from Papua New Guinea. All genera are known only from a few adult specimens. No subfamilies or tribes are recognized. The chapter provides a diagno...

The fossil record of chalcid wasps is sparse, which may be explained by rare fossilization of these minute wasps, but also by the extreme difficulty of both finding the fossils and assigning them to a valid taxonomic level. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the fossils and subfossils of chalcid wasps based on a newly compiled dataset from...

Chalcidoidea have a long history that dates back to mentions by Aristotle, but with the first chalcids described as other hymenopterans by Linnaeus. As species were correctly placed in later treatments, their early family classifications were diverse, even until very recently. This chapter summarizes the long and varied classification history of Ch...

Coelocybidae is a family of associates of insect gall-formers in trees, found almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. The chapter provides a diagnosis, discusses relevant morphology, and summarizes their distribution, natural history, and economic importance.

The family Eunotidae is monophyletic group of predators of eggs and crawlers of Coccoidea (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha). Eunotids have a maximum of ten antennal flagellomeres, ventrally divergent eyes, and an acropleuron that is not expanded. The chapter provides a diagnosis, discusses relevant morphology, and summarizes their distribution, natural h...

The logical basis of identification keys and the principles underlying character selection are briefly discussed. The key is dichotomous in form and is intended to identify all known Chalcidoidea species to family, or in some cases to a lower level incertae sedis taxon. A set of shortcuts is provided to direct users to major branch points in the ke...

The revised concept of Pteromalidae treats it as a monophyletic group containing eight subfamilies of quite different habitus (Colotrechninae, Erixestinae, Metasteninae, Miscogastrinae, Ormocerinae, Pteromalinae, Sycophaginae, Trigonoderinae), including one of the most common model organisms, Nasonia vitripennis. Pteromalidae is a highly diverse an...

Cerocephalidae is a small family of small to medium chalcid wasps that are characterized by the presence of an intertorular carina or prominence, antenna with 8–10 flagellomeres and at most three clavomeres, and large mandibles with two to five distinct teeth. Cerocephalids also have a conspicuous occipital carina and usually complete notauli. The...

This chapter deals with the family Epichrysomallidae, which contains medium-sized fig wasps (3–7 mm) that have a generalized appearance of non-iridescent chalcid wasps (mostly black or yellow). They can be recognized by a combination of characters: clypeus bilobed and supraclypeal area conspicuous; notauli mostly incised and complete, and propodeal...

Family, tribal and generic concepts of some taxa within, or historically associated with, Aphelinidae are revised. At the family level, we transfer Noyesaphytis from Aphelinidae to Azotidae, and we remove Encarsia gallicola and Encarsia metallica from Encarsia and place them in Galeopsomyia (Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae) as nomina dubia. At the subfa...

The circumscription of the family Ormyridae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) is revised after phylogenetic analysis based on ultra‐conserved elements (UCEs) and comparative morphological assessment of the chalcid ‘Gall Clade’. Six genera are treated in the family, including two new genera, Halleriaphagus van Noort and Burks, gen. nov ., and Ouma Mitroiu...

Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that include as many as 500 000 estimated species. Capturing phylogenetic signal from such a massive radiation can be daunting. Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution. We combined 1007 exons obtained with Anchored Hybrid Enrichme...

The spectacular radiation of insects has produced a stunning diversity of phenotypes. During the past 250 years, research on insect systematics has generated hundreds of terms for naming and comparing them. In its current form, this terminological diversity is presented in natural language and lacks formalization, which prohibits computer-assisted...

The eulophid genera Dermatopelte Erdös & Novicky and Iniostichus Kamijo & Ikeda are reported for the first time from India. Two new species, Dermatopelte striata n. sp. and Iniostichus proximus n. sp. are described and illustrated. A revised key to the Indo-Malayan species of Dermatopelte and a key to the extant species of Iniostichus are included.

The family Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) is reviewed with the goal of providing nomenclatural changes and morphological diagnoses in preparation for a new molecular phylogeny and a book on world fauna that will contain keys to identification. Most subfamilies and some tribes of Pteromalidae are elevated to family level or transferred els...

Capturing phylogenetic signal from a massive radiation can be daunting. The superfamily Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution. Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that until now included 27 families, 87 subfamilies and as many as 500,000 estimated species. We comb...

The spectacular radiation of insects has produced a stunning diversity of phenotypes. During the last 250 years, research on insect systematics has generated hundreds of terms for naming and comparing those phenotypes. In its current form, this terminological diversity is presented in natural language and lacks formalization, which prohibits comput...

Spalangiopelta is a small genus of chalcid wasps that has received little attention despite the widespread distribution of its extant species. The fossil record of the genus is restricted to a single species from Miocene Dominican amber. We describe two new fossil species, Spalangiopelta darlingi sp. n. and Spalangiopelta semialba sp. n. from Balti...

A new fossil species of Eulophidae, Kressleinius celans , gen. et sp. nov. , is described from Eocene Baltic amber. It does not place into any extant genera within Eulophidae due to a lack of distinctive synapomorphies. The results of a morphology-based phylogenetic analysis placed K. celans in Tetrastichinae because of features shared with several...

The Christmas tree industry is mainly supplied with seeds from natural stands and genetically improved germplasm from clonal seed orchards (CSOs). Chalcid wasps (Megastigmus spp.) have a negative effect on the value of seedlots by reducing the quantity of viable seeds and represent a risk for national and international seed trade. Seed radiographie...

Chartocerus azizaesp. nov. is described as the first known fossil from the family Signiphoridae, based on two inclusions in the same piece of Eocene Baltic amber (36.7–48.5 million years ago). Implications of the morphology of C. azizae are discussed, indicating that it should be placed in Chartocerus .

Eulophidae is a hyper-diverse family of chalcidoid wasps with 324 genera, about 5300 described species and probably thousands of others to be described. Until now, the absence of unequivocal morphological apomorphies and the low resolution provided by the handful of Sanger sequenced genes have hampered the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationshi...

The species of Stenetra Masi (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) are revised. Nine world species are recognized based on females, of which seven new species are described: S. californica Tselikh & Burks sp. nov. (USA), S. caucasica Tselikh sp. nov. (Armenia, Georgia), S. daleskeyae Tselikh sp. nov. (Kazakhstan, Russia, Spain), S. khalaimi Tselikh sp. nov....

New Baltic amber species of Pteromalidae sensu lato are described, from two different subfamilies, Asaphesinae n. n. and Eunotinae. Asaphesinae is provided as a replacement name for Asaphinae Ashmead 1904, which is a junior homonym of the trilobite family Asaphidae Burmeister 1843. Coriotela lasallei gen. n., sp. n.. and Butiokeras costae gen. n.,...

The Early Cretaceous fossil Parviformosus wohlrabeae Barling et al., 2013, hasbeen described as the oldest known member of the chalcidoid family Pteromalidae.However, its phylogenetic placement has raised doubts, highlighting the necessity for aproper revision. A redescription as well as a re-interpretation of morphological charac-ters is presented...

Chrysolampine wasps belong to a unique lineage of Chalcidoidea characterized by mobile first instar larvae and known as the planidial clade. The fossil history of this biologically highly derived group of parasitoids is still little known due to the scarcity of preserved fossils. Here, we report the discovery of four specimens of Chrysolampinae fro...

We report here for the first time the presence of Ophelimus mediterraneus sp. n. in Mediterranean Europe. This species appears to be closely related to Ophelimus maskelli, a well-known invasive pest of Eucalyptus. Based on molecular (Cytochrome Oxydase I, 28S), morphological (Multivariate Ratio Analysis) and bio-ecological investigations, our study...

Eucharitidae (Hymenoptera) are specialized ant (Formicidae) parasitoids. As we begin to develop a better understanding of their phylogenetic relationships, it is critical to establish baselines for morphological and biological data. A morphological review and the first report of life history data for Psilocharis afra Heraty is provided based on new...

Two new genera and species of Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are described: the extant Exolabrum vannoorti n. gen., n. sp., from West Coast Fossil Park in South Africa, and Versolabrum coriaceum n. gen., n. sp. from Eocene Baltic amber. These are described in the previously monogeneric subfamily Herbertiinae based on the features of the l...

Chalcid wasps are one of the most diverse lineages of Hymenoptera also highly disparate in terms of morphologies and biologies. The evolutionary relationships among Chalcidoidea have remained virtually untested. No multilocus molecular phylogeny has been deployed heretofore towards assessing the basal tree topology with appropriate sampling. Here w...

Jewel wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are extremely species-rich today, but have a sparse fossil record from the Cretaceous, the period of their early diversification. Three genera and three species, Diversinitus attenboroughi gen. & sp. n., Burminata caputaeria gen. & sp. n. and Glabiala barbata gen. & sp. n. are described in the family Diversin...

Results of cladistic analyses Zip file contains results of all performed cladistic analyses sorted by subfolders. Subfolders include final trees, final trees with mapped synapomorphies (.emf format) and a text file (.txt) of the TNT output for more information on analyses setup and tree statistics.

Data matrix constructed for all available members of the family Diversinitidae, using the character list of Heraty et al. (2013)

Twenty-nine species are recognized in the Orasema stramineipes species group, including 22 new species in what is now the most diverse species group of the New World ant-parasitoid genus Orasema Cameron. Orasema aenea Gahan syn. n. is synonymized with O. freychei (Gemignani), the holotype of which has been rediscovered. Orasema smithi Howard syn. n...

Twelve genera of Oraseminae (Hymenoptera: Eucharitidae) are recognized in the Old World. The genus Orasema Cameron is now considered as found only in the New World, and the Old World species, previously treated as species groups, are now treated as distinct genera. Eight new genera are proposed: Australosema gen. n., Cymosema gen. n., Hayatosema ge...

African species of Oxyscelio (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae s.l.) are revised. A total of 14 species are recognized, 13 of which are described as new: Oxyscelio absentiae Burks, sp. n., Oxyscelio galeri Burks, sp. n., Oxyscelio gyri Burks, sp. n., Oxyscelio idoli Burks, sp. n., Oxyscelio intensionis Burks, sp. n., Oxyscelio io Burks, sp. n., Oxysceli...

Taxonomic records used in the present paper.

Locality records used in the present paper.

The Neotropical Orasema festiva species group is revised, retaining O. festiva (Fabricius) and O. delicatula (Walker) as valid species, and describing four new species: O. alvarengai n. sp., O. caesariata n. sp., O. erwini n. sp., and O. reburra n. sp. The festiva-group is characterized by features that are unusual or unique in Orasema, including t...

The uniparental parasitoid Closterocerus chamaeleon (Girault) is discovered to be fortuitously present on a population of the invasive Eucalyptus Gall Wasp Ophelimus maskelli (Ashmead) in Riverside, California. This is the first report from the New World of Closterocerus chamaeleon, which has proven to be a highly effective natural enemy of Ophelim...

New species of fossil Aphelinidae and Trichogrammatidae are described from middle Eocene (Lutetian) Baltic amber (41.3–47.8 Ma). A new subfamily, two new genera and three new species of Aphelinidae are described, with comments on their placement: Phtuaria fimbriae gen.n. , sp.n. in Phtuariinae subf.n. , Glaesaphytis interregni gen.n. , sp.n. and Ce...

Ophelimus maskelli (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) was found in southern California, USA, on March 17, 2014, in Riverside County, University of California Riverside Campus (UCR), and has been common there since then. It has also been found in other locations in southern California, including San Diego County (San Diego Safari Park on November 1...

To date, the known Chinese fauna of egg-parasitoids of the genus Oxyscelio Kieffer encompasses two species from the mainland - Oxysceliodoumao Burks and Oxyscelionubbin Burks. Here we record eighteen species of Oxyscelio from collections in mainland China: Oxyscelioarvi Burks, Oxyscelioceylonensis (Dodd), Oxyscelioconvergens Burks, Oxysceliocordis...

Authors: Norman F. Johnson, Roger D. Burks, Andrew D. Austin, Xu Zaifu Data type: occurrences DarwinCore Archive files for data reported, in zipped format. File name: ChineseOxyscelio.zip

The Australasian and southwest Pacific species of Oxyscelio (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae s.l.) are revised. A total of 80 species are recognized as valid, 13 of which are redescribed: O. atricoxa (Dodd), O. concoloripes (Dodd), O. flavipes (Kieffer), O. grandis (Dodd), O. hyalinipennis (Dodd), O. magniclava (Dodd), O. mirellus (Dodd), O. montanus (...