Cheloninae

Cheloninae
	Imago of an unidentified species
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Superfamily:	Ichneumonoidea
Family:	Braconidae
Subfamily:	Cheloninae
Genera
	Several, see text

The Cheloninae are a cosmopolitan subfamily of braconid parasitoid wasps.

Description[]

Most Cheloninae are small and uniformly colored. They have a characteristic metasomal carapace formed from the fusion of the first three tergites.

Biology[]

Metasomal carapace of a Chelonine

Phanerotoma sp.

They are solitary koinobionts which parasitize Lepidoptera, especially Pyraloidea and Tortricoidea, but also other taxa whose larvae bore in stems, buds or fruits. Chelonines are egg-larval parasitoids, meaning they oviposit into a host egg, but the wasp larvae do not complete development until the caterpillar has hatched and matured. Chelonines carry polydnaviruses which aid in overcoming their hosts' immune system.^[1]

Genera[]

Genera placed in Cheloninae include:

Wesmael, 1835 (paraphyletic?)
Kittel and Austin, 2014
Chelonus Panzer, 1806
Zettel, 1990
† Brues, 1933
† Cockerell, 1920
Koçak and Kemal, 2008
Zettel, 1990
Shaw, 1990
Baker, 1926
Cameron, 1910
Kittel and Austin, 2014
Phanerotoma Wesmael, 1838
Szépligeti, 1900
Zettel, 1990
Zettel, 1990
He et al., 1994
Zettel, 1990

Previously belonging to the Adeliinae, but now confirmed to be nested within Cheloninae^[2] in the tribe Adeliini are:

Adelius Haliday, 1834
de Saeger, 1942
He and Chen, 2000
Belokobylskij, 1988

References[]

^ Murphy, Nicholas; Banks, Jonathan C.; Whitfield, James B.; Austin, Andrew D. (2008-04-01). "Phylogeny of the parasitic microgastroid subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) based on sequence data from seven genes, with an improved time estimate of the origin of the lineage". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 47 (1): 378–395. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.022. PMID 18325792.
^ Kittel, R.N.; Austin, A.D.; Klopfstein, S. (2016). "Molecular and morphological phylogenetics of chelonine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), with a critical assessment of divergence time estimations". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 101: 224–241. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.05.016. PMID 27179700.

External links[]

photos on BugGuide.net

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[1] Murphy, Nicholas; Banks, Jonathan C.; Whitfield, James B.; Austin, Andrew D. (2008-04-01). "Phylogeny of the parasitic microgastroid subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) based on sequence data from seven genes, with an improved time estimate of the origin of the lineage". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 47 (1): 378–395. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.01.022. PMID 18325792.

[2] Kittel, R.N.; Austin, A.D.; Klopfstein, S. (2016). "Molecular and morphological phylogenetics of chelonine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), with a critical assessment of divergence time estimations". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 101: 224–241. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.05.016. PMID 27179700.

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