Amitus Haldeman, 1850

van Noort, Simon, Lahey, Zachary, Talamas, Elijah J., Austin, Andrew D., Masner, Lubomir, Polaszek, Andrew & Johnson, Norman F., 2021, Review of Afrotropical sceliotracheline parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 87, pp. 115-222 : 115

Amitus Haldeman, 1850

Figs 11 , 12

Amitus Haldeman, 1850: 109 (original description. Type: Amitus aleurodinis Haldeman, by monotypy); Cresson 1887: 250 (catalogue of species of U.S. and Canada); Ashmead 1893: 263, 264, 292 (description, keyed); Dalla Torre 1898: 481 (catalogue of species); Ashmead 1903: 97, 99 (keyed); Kieffer 1914: 361 (keyed); Kieffer 1916: 552 (description); Fouts 1924: 3, 8 (description, keyed); Kieffer 1926: 562, 697 (description, keyed, key to species); Jansson 1939: 175 (keyed); Maneval 1940: 117 (keyed); Mani 1941: 34 (catalogue of species of India); Debauche 1947: 282 (taxonomic status); Muesebeck and Walkley 1951: 709 (catalogue of species of U.S. and Canada); Muesebeck and Walkley 1956: 327 (citation of type species); De Santis 1967: 228 (catalogue of species of Argentina); Hellén 1968: 46 (description); Kozlov 1971: 57 (keyed); Kozlov 1978: 656 (key to species of the European USSR); MacGown and Nebeker 1978: 278 (review of species of Western Hemisphere); Muesebeck 1979: 1174 (catalogue of species of U.S. and Canada); Mani and Sharma 1982: 205 (description); Viggiani and Mazzone 1982: 63 (key to species of Italy); Huldén 1986: 21 (key to the species of Finland); Masner and Huggert 1989: 51 (description, species list); Vlug 1995: 15 (catalogued, catalogue of world species); Kozlov 1995: 126 (keyed); Austin and Field 1997: 55, 68 (structure of ovipositor system, discussion of phylogenetic relationships); Polaszek 1997: 77 (description); Buhl 1999: 18 (key to species of Fennoscandia and Denmark); Buhl and Notton 2009: 1655 (distribution); Ghahari and Buhl 2011: 331 (species of Iran); Anjana et al. 2016: 107 (description, key to species of India).

Zacrita Förster, 1878: 46 (original description. Type: Zacrita longicornis Förster, by monotypy and original designation. Synonymized by Ashmead (1893)); Ashmead 1893: 292 (junior synonym of Amitus Haldeman); Muesebeck and Walkley 1956: 409 (citation of type species).

Elaptus Forbes, 1885: 110 (original description. Type: Elaptus aleurodis Forbes, by monotypy. Error for Alaptus Westwood. Synonymized implicitly by Ashmead (1893)); Ashmead 1893: 292 (junior synonym of Amitus Haldeman); Muesebeck and Walkley 1956: 349 (citation of type species).

Passalida Brèthes, 1914: 2 (original description. Type: Passalida spinifera Brèthes, by monotypy and original designation. Synonymized by De Santis (1941)); Muesebeck and Walkley 1956: 382 (citation of type species).

Masnerium Polaszek, 2009: 120 (original description. Type: Masnerium wellsae Polaszek, by monotypy and original designation). Synonymized by Lahey et al. (2021).

Diagnosis.

Short, stocky, dorsoventrally flattened species, with long wings without distinct veins; head in lateral view somewhat opisthognathous; antennal formula usually 10-10, rarely 8-8 (e.g. Amitus wellsae (Polaszek)); female antenna with abrupt, subcompact, spindle-shaped to ovoid clava resulting from the fusion of A8-A10; sulci present between clavomeres except in Australian members of the genus (e.g. Amitus wellsae (Polaszek)); male antenna with specialized paddle-shaped area on A4; netrion well developed; propodeum partly covered with foamy structures; metasoma short, subsessile, almost as wide as long; T1 strongly trapezoidal-transverse; T2 usually with fan of striae anterolaterally.

Species richness.

Amitus hesperidum Silvestri, 1927 (China, but introduced to most tropical areas) (Fig. 11 ).

Amitus species 1 (Kenya).

Amitus species 2 (Madagascar).

Amitus species 3 (South Africa) (Fig. 12 ).

Distribution.

Afrotropical: Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa (new records). Cosmopolitan, excluding Antarctica and New Zealand ( Masner and Huggert 1989; Vlug 1995).

Biology.

Solitary and occasionally gregarious endoparasitoids of whiteflies ( Hemiptera , Sternorrhyncha , Aleyrodidae ) ( Masner and Huggert 1989; Vlug 1995).

Figures

Figure 11. Amitus hesperidum female (SANC) (AcBC 275) A habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view C head, mesosoma, lateral view D head, mesosoma, dorsal view E head, anterior view F fore wing, dorsal view (inset: data labels).

Figure 12. Amitus species female (SAMC) (SAM-HYM-P 005039) A habitus, lateral view B habitus, dorsal view C head, antennae, dorsal view D body, lateral view E habitus, ventral view F wings, dorsal view (inset: data labels).