African Arthropods/Chalcidoidea

The megadiverse Superfamily Chalcidoidea has more than 22 000 described species (>2 800 in Africa) and there may be as many as 500 000 undescribed species. Most of these are tiny (less than 3 mm long), and are parasites of a wide variety of insects, spiders and mites, but some chalcidoid larvae eat plant material (in galls or seeds).[1][2]

Before 2018, these species were placed in about 19 accepted families. However, over the past few decades, a host of studies investigating their biology, their morphology, and their DNA have suggested that many more families should be recognized. In 2022 a group of wasp taxonomists agreed to recognize about 50 families worldwide.[3]

Macro photography has allowed non-scientists a view into the world of these minute creatures, but learning more about them is a challenge. Even with high-quality macro photographs of free-flying wasps, expert hymenopterists are unable to identify most chalcidoids to species or genus level. Nevertheless, with the help of the specialists that contribute identifications on iNaturalist and Hymenopterists Forum, it has been possible to put together this page, illustrated with photographs of live wasps from 23 of the 35-odd chalcidoid families known in Africa; it is supplemented with photos of museum specimens from another four families.

Many more images (mostly of museum specimens, including type specimens) can be found on WaspWeb. This includes photos of wasps from the following families not shown here: Azotidae, Cleonymidae, Herbertiidae, Heydeniidae, Neanastatidae, and Tanaostigmatidae.

South African Chalcidoid wasps moved to new (2018-2022) families: Metapelmus sp. from Eupelmidae to Metapelmatidae[3]; Bohpa maculata from Pteromalidae to Ceidae[3]; Spalangia sp. from Pteromalidae to Spalangiidae[3]; Spathopus sp. from Pteromalidae to Pirenidae[3]; Aperilampus sp. from Perilampidae to Chrysolampidae [4]; Megastigmus transvaalensis from Torymidae to Megastigmidae[5]; Lelaps or Dipara sp. from Pteromalidae to Diparidae[3]; Lachaisea brevimucro from Pteromalidae to Epichrysomallidae[3]; and Solenura nigra from Pteromalidae to Lyciscidae[3].

References

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  1. Noyes, J.S. and Pitkin, B.R. 2003. Universal Chalcidoidea Database: About chalcidoids. The Natural History Museum, London. [1]
  2. van Noort, Simon (2023) WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the Afrotropical region. www.waspweb.org, accessed on 9 May 2023.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Roger A. Burks; Mircea-Dan Mitroiu; Lucian Fusu et al. (20 December 2022). "From hell’s heart I stab at thee! A determined approach towards a monophyletic Pteromalidae and reclassification of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera)". Journal of Hymenoptera Research 94: 13-88. doi:10.3897/JHR.94.94263. Wikidata Q115923766. ISSN 1070-9428. 
  4. Zhang, J., Heraty, J. M., Darling, C., Kresslein, R. L., Baker, A. J., Torréns, J., Rasplus, J. Y., Lemmon A. & Moriarty Lemmon, E. (2022). Anchored phylogenomics and a revised classification of the planidial larva clade of jewel wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Systematic Entomology, 47(2), 329-353. DOI
  5. Janšta, P., Cruaud, A., Delvare, G., Genson, G., Heraty, J., Křížková, B. and Rasplus, J.Y. (2018). Torymidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) revised: molecular phylogeny, circumscription and reclassification of the family with discussion of its biogeography and evolution of life‐history traits. Cladistics, 34(6), pp.627-651. DOI