Systematics of Cyphacolus Priesner (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae s.l.), an Old World genus of spider egg parasitoid

The genus Cyphacolus Priesner is unusual among members of the Baeini in having fore wings contoured to the convex surface of metasoma and lacking fore wing venation. It is closely allied to Odontacolus Kieffer based on the laterally compressed metasomal horn and pedunculate metasoma. Here we redescribe two of the three previously known species, C. bhowaliensis (Mani & Mukerjee) (India) and C. veniprivus Priesner (Egypt), and describe as new 13 additional species: C. asheri n. sp. (Sri Lanka), C. axfordi n. sp. (Australia), C. copelandi n. sp. (Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Thailand), C. diazae n. sp. (Kenya), C. harteni n. sp. (Yemen, Ivory Coast, Paskistan), C. jenningsi n. sp. (Australia), C. leblanci n. sp. (Guinea), C. lucianae n. sp. (Ivory Coast, Madagascar, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe), C. normani n. sp. (India, United Arab Emirates), C. sallyae n. sp. (Australia), C. tessae n. sp. (Australia), C. tullyae n. sp.(Australia), and C. watshami n. sp. (Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Zimbabwe). In addition, we present a key to separate the species (including Cyphacolus bouceki Iqbal & Austin), a preliminary cladistic analysis to examine relationships among species and species groups, and a discussion of the biology, distribution and likely affinities of the genus. An electronic version of the identification key is available at WaspWeb1. As part of our phylogenetic study, one of the outgroup species, Idris floris (Kononova & Fursov) n. comb., is here transferred from Ceratobaeus Ashmead. The electronic version of this document has been formatted with embedded links to additional resources available online via the internet, both to enhance the content and as a demonstration of the utility of international standards for biodiversity informatics.

Alejandro A. Valerio, Lubomir Masner & Andrew D. Austin