Aulacus Jurine, 1807

Jennings, John T., Parslow, Ben A. & Austin, Andrew D., 2018, Systematics of the parasitoid wasp genus Aulacus Jurine (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea: Aulacidae) from Australia, Zootaxa 4538 (1), pp. 1-113 : 6-7

Aulacus Jurine, 1807

Aulacus Jurine 1801: 163 . [nom. nud.]

Aulacus Jurine 1807: 89 . Type species: Aulacus striatus Jurine 1807 , by monotypy (North America and Europe).— Blanchard 1840: 300; Schletterer 1889: 489; Kieffer 1903: 383, 453; Bradley 1908: 120; Kieffer 1912: 344, 370; Hedicke 1939: 17; Townes 1950: 113; Oehlke 1983: 441; Koslov 1988: 243; Alekseev 1995: 39; Konishi 1990: 638; Smith 2001: 268; Jennings et al. 2004a: 116; Jennings et al. 2004b: 13; Jennings 2010 [on-line checklist]; Turrisi 2013: 327; Kuroda et al. 2016: 173.

Disphaeron Dahlbom 1837: 175 . Type species: Aulacus arcticus Dahlbom 1837 , by monotypy.—(syn. Hedicke 1939: 18)

Aulacinus Westwood 1868: 331 . Erected as a sub-genus of Aulacus . Type species: Aulacus (Aulacinus) moerens Westwood 1868 , by monotypy.— Kieffer 1903: 481; Bradley 1908: 120; Kieffer 1912: 349; Hedicke 1939: 24 (syn. Townes 1950: 113)

Pammegischia Provancher 1882: 302 . Type species: Pammegischia burquei Provancher 1882 , by monotypy.— Kieffer 1903: 383; Bradley 1908: 120; Kieffer 1912: 346; Townes 1938: 254; Hedicke 1939: 23. (syn. Kieffer 1902: 11)

Parafoenus Kieffer 1910: 350 . No species included. Type species: Parafoenus formosus Kieffer 1912 , by subsequent monotypy.— Kieffer 1912: 345; Hedicke 1939: 26. (syn. Townes 1950: 113)

Neuraulacinus Kieffer 1910: 350 . Type species: Neuraulacinus vespiformis Kieffer 1910 , by subsequent designation, see Kieffer 1912: 358 (designated from three species included by Kieffer 1911).— Kieffer 1912: 358; Hedicke 1939: 26. (syn. Townes 1950: 113)

Micraulacinus Kieffer 1910: 350 . Type species: Micraulacinus elegans Kieffer 1910 , by subsequent monotypy, see Kieffer 1912: 348.— Kieffer 1912: 348; Hedicke 1939: 24. (syn. Townes 1950: 113)

Disaulacinus Kieffer 1910: 350 . Type species: Disaulacinus flavimanus Kieffer 1911 , by subsequent monotypy, see Kieffer 1911: 224.— Kieffer 1912: 361; Hedicke 1939: 23. (syn. Crosskey 1953: 759)

Pycnaulacus Cushman 1929: 17 . Type species: Pycnaulacus brevicaudus Cushman 1929 , by original designation.—(syn. Townes 1950: 113)

Diagnosis of Aulacus based on Australian species. Head usually without occipital carina (very rarely present laterally, if so, weak (narrow)); frons with or without a transverse carina above antennal sockets; 14 antennomeres in female, 13 antennomeres in male; scape usually strongly convex in lateral view, much thicker than pedicel and flagellomeres; antennal insertions low on face, near lower margin of eyes; eyes circular or subcircular, remote from the mandibles; pronotum without angular process; metapostnotum present between propodeum and metanotum as a distinct sclerotisation; propodeum pyramidal, metasoma inserted high on the apex (e.g., Fig. 16G ); first metasomal tergite (T1) and second tergite (T2) fused dorsally, forming a petiole (e.g., Figs 19H , 38H ); hind coxa with (e.g., Figs 2F , 30F ) or without a groove (e.g., Fig. 15F ) or notch on inner ventral surface, the apposed grooves or notches forming an ovipositor guide; hind trochanter with a transverse trochanteral groove (e.g., Fig. 5D ); prefemur (trochantellus) present; each tarsal claw with one basal tooth (sometimes difficult to see); fore wings not plicate at rest; fore wing vein 2-Rs+M generally long, second discal cell elongate, vein 2m-cu present, vein 2r-m often absent, largely spectral when present, vein 3r-m present, often largely spectral (see Fig. 1 ); ovipositor exserted, protruding well beyond apex of metasoma.

Comments. Aulacus was first proposed as a genus by Jurine (1801) but was a nomen nudum because no species were included. In 1807, Jurine rectified this by describing Aulacus striatus . Early authors, however, did not define the generic limits of Aulacus , so a number of genera were erected without due consideration of interspecific variation. This resulted in a proliferation of new genera: Disaulacinus Kieffer , Disphaeron Dahlbom and Micraulacinus Kieffer from Australia, Neuraulacinus Kieffer from Australia and South America , Parafoenus Kieffer from South America , and Pycnaulacus Cushman from the USA. By 1912, Kieffer had recognised some 41 species in six genera as well as the subgenus Aulacinus Westwood. Of these, 17 species were Australian. Although Kieffer (1902) had synonymised Pammegischia Provancher with Aulacus , the mainly North American Pammegischia were not transferred to Aulacus until much later ( Townes 1938). In his 1939 catalog, Hedicke synonymised Disphaeron and included a number of additional species in the other genera. Townes (1950) evaluated various characters, particularly wing venation, and in the process defined the generic limits of Aulacus , leading him to synonymise Aulacinus , Micraulacinus , Neuraulacinus , Parafoenus , and Pycnaulacus with Aulacus . However, Townes erroneously synonymised Disaulacinus with Aulacostethus Philippi (now Pristaulacus Kieffer ). Disaulacinus was later synonymised with Aulacus by Crosskey (1953). Since Crosskey (1953), the classification has remained stable. Smith (2001) provided a world catalog of Aulacidae , including 18 Australian species. Jennings & Austin (2004a, b) added six new Aulacus species from South Australia and Western Australia (see also checklist of Australian species in Jennings 2010 & Turrisi 2017).

Based on morphological analyses, Turrisi et al. (2009) found Aulacus to be paraphyletic. However, this needs to be confirmed by a comprehensive global phylogenetic analysis. As there have not been any further attempts to examine species relationships, here we continue to place the Australian aulacid taxa with simple hind tarsal claws (i.e. not pectinate) in Aulacus (see Jennings et al. 2004a).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Wings of Aulacus neboissi sp. nov. showing complete hind wing venation. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 2. Aulacus albimanus (Kieffer), holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head; (E) lateral mesosoma; (F) inner side right hind coxa.

FIGURE 5. Aulacus aroueti (Girault), holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorso-lateral metasoma; (D) inner side of right coxa.

FIGURE 15. Aulacus dandenongensis sp. nov., paratype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head and mesosoma; (E) dorsal propleuron and mesosoma. Aulacus dandenongensis sp. nov., holotype female, (F) inner left hind coxa.

FIGURE 16. Aulacus deansi sp. nov., paratype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head; (E) dorsal mesosoma; (F) dorsal hind coxae.

FIGURE 19. Aulacus festivus (Kieffer), female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) frontal head; (D) lateral head; (E) dorsal mesosoma; (F) lateral mesosoma; (G) dorsal hind coxae; (H) dorsal metasomal T1.

FIGURE 30. Aulacus leai sp. nov., holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) lateral head; (D) dorsal mesosoma; (E) lateral mesoscutum; (F) dorsal hind coxae.

FIGURE 38. Aulacus pallidicaudis (Cameron), holotype female, (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) dorsal head; (D) lateral head; (E) dorsal mesosoma; (F) lateral mesosoma; (G) frontal head; (H) dorsal metasomal T1.