Trigonalidae

Abstract: Evidence from study of the structure and extrinsic musculature of the midcoxae in Hymenoptera supports the following hypothesized relationships: Orussidae and Apocrita are sister-groups; no evidence was found supporting a sister-group relationship between Cephidae and Apocrita; the Ichneumonoidea (Stephanidae excluded), Chalcidoidea (including Mymaridae and Mymarommatidae), Proctotrupoidea (Ceraphronoidea excluded), and Cynipoidea form a monophyletic group, the Ichneumonomorpha; the Evanioidea, Ceraphronoidea, Megalyridae, and Trigonalidae form a monophyletic group, the Evaniomorpha.

Abstract: A phylogenetic analysis of generic relationships and revised generic concepts for the Trigonalidae is presented. The Trigonalidae is divided into two subfamilies, the Orthogonalinae and the Trigonalinae. Orthogonalinae consists of a single primitive genus, Orthogonalys, sharing many generalized apocritan characters, but lacking advanced trigonalid characters including antennal tyloids and female metasomal armature. No synapomorphies have been detected for the Orthogonalinae. Trigonalinae are characterized by the presence of tyloids. The Trigonalinae were originally defined by the absence of female armature, and were therefore polyphyletic because armature has been lost several times. Within the revised concept of Trigonalinae, the tribe Trigonalini is characterized by the presence of elongate parameres and an intertorulus distance subequal to the distance between the torulus and the eye. A second tribe, Nomadinini, is based on the secondary loss of tyloids, and comprises the previous subfamilies Seminotinae, Nomadininae, Bareogonalinae and Lycogastrinae. The two tribes Trigonalini and Nomadinini share the presence of female armature, although in some Trigonalini it has been secondarily lost. The genera Labidogonalos Schulz, Lycogastroides Strand, Lycogonalos Bischoff, Nanogonalos Schulz, Poecilogonalos Schulz and Taiwanogonalos Tsuneki are synonymised under Taeniogonalos Schulz. The species Lycogaster zimmeri Bischoff, Tapinogonalos maschuna Schulz, and Trigonalys pictifrons Smith (placed in Lycogaster by Schulz, 1906a) are transferred to Taeniogonalos. The genera Discenea Enderlein and Stygnogonalos Schulz are synonymised under Trigonalys Westwood. The species Labidogonalos flavescens Bischoff, L. sanctaecatharinae Schulz, Trigonalys lachrymosa Westwood (placed in Lycogaster by Bischoff, 1938), T. maculifrons Cameron (placed in Labidogonalos by Bischoff, 1938) and T. rufiventris Magretti (placed in Lycogaster by Schulz, 1907a) are transferred to Trigonalys.Trigonalys costalis Cresson is synonymised with Taeniogonalos gundlachii (Cresson). Xanthogonalos fasciatus Bertoni and X.severini Schulz are synonymised with Trigonalys sanctaecatharinae (Schulz). Mimelogonalos partiglabra Riek and M. punctulata Riek are synonymised with M. bouvieri Schulz. Lectotypes are designated for Trigonalys melanoleuca Westwood and Taeniogonalos fasciatipennis (Cameron). The author of Trigonalys maculifrons is Sharp (1895), not Cameron (1897), and the author of Taeniogonalos enderleini is De Santis (1980), not Schulz 1906. Viereck (1914) designated Trigonalys pulchella Cresson as type of the genus Tapinogonalos Schulz, preceding Bischoff's (1938) designation, making Tapinogonalos a synonym of Orthogonalys. A new genus, Afrigonalys, is proposed for the three species that were described in ‘Tapinogonalos’sensu Bischoff, nec Viereck.

Abstract: The host relationships of the enigmatic family Trigonalyidae are analysed using published host records and those obtained from reared material. Most species appear to oviposit on a wide variety of plants; their eggs are ingested in most cases by lepidopteran or sawfly larvae, and they then develop as obligatory hyperparasitoids in tachinid or ichneumonid primary parasitoids or in vespid or eumenid wasp larvae. Vespidae are the most commonly recorded secondary hosts, undoubtedly via lepidopteran primary hosts provisioned into nests, though this has not been confirmed. Two subfamilies, the Bareogonaloinae and Nomadininae, appear to be restricted to vespid larvae, while the two largest subfamilies, the Lycogastrinae and Trigonalyinae, and several component genera (and species), have been associated with taxonomically diverse primary and secondary host groups. One species of Poecilogonalos has been recorded from a tachinid fly parasitic on a tipulid primary host, while the unconfirmed reports of at least some...

Abstract: Most major modern families of Hymenoptera were established in the Mesozoic, but the diversifications within ecologically key trophic guilds and lineages that significantly influence the character of modern terrestrial ecosystems – bees (Apiformes), ants (Formicidae), social Vespidae, parasitoids (Ichneumonidae), and phytophagous Tenthredinoidea – were previously known to occur mostly in the middle to late Eocene. We find these changes earlier, seen here in the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands fossil deposits of western North America. Some of these may have occurred even earlier, but have been obscured by taphonomic processes. We provide an overview of the Okanagan Highlands Hymenoptera to family level and in some cases below that, with a minimum of 25 named families and at least 30 when those tentatively assigned or distinct at family level, but not named are included. Some are poorly known as fossils (Trigonalidae, Siricidae, Peradeniidae, Monomachidae), and some represent the oldest confirmed occurrences (Trigonalidae, Pompilidae, Sphecidae sensu stricto, Peradeniidae, Monomachidae, and possibly Halictidae). Some taxa previously thought to be relictual or extinct by the end of the Cretaceous (Angarosphecidae, Archaeoscoliinae, some Diapriidae) are present and sometimes abundant in the early Eocene. Living relatives of some taxa are now present in different climate regimes or on different continents.