Halictoxenos Pierce, 1908

Quintos-Andrade, Gerardo & Valenzuela-González, Jorge E., 2024, First record of Halictoxenos Pierce (Strepsiptera: Stylopidae) from Mexico with the description of a new species parasite of Lasioglossum exiguum (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), Zootaxa 5514 (2), pp. 157-168 : 160

Genus Halictoxenos Pierce, 1908

Halictoxenos Pierce, 1908: 82 .

Apractelytra Pierce, 1908: 79 ; Bohart, 1941: 135 (= Halictoxenos ).

Halictostylops Pierce, 1909: 112; Bohart, 1941: 135 (= Halictoxenos ).

Halictoxenos (Halictoxenos) Pierce, 1909: 149 ; Bohart, 1941: 135 (= Halictoxenos ).

Halictoxenos (Halictophilus) Pierce, 1909: 151 ; Bohart, 1941: 135 (= Halictoxenos ).

Halictoxenos (Halictostylops) Pierce, 1911b: 21 ; Bohart, 1941: 135 (= Halictoxenos ).

Halictoxenos (Augochlorophilus) Pierce, 1911b: 22 ; Bohart, 1941: 135 (= Halictoxenos ).

Type species: Halictoxenos jonesi Pierce, 1908

Diagnosis. Male. Postfrontal area pronounced; the arrangement of sutures on the head is variable, but generally, the postfrontal and subcostal areas narrow at the center, forming a sutural arrangement resembling an hourglass (visible in H. jonesi , H. keenereri Pohl & Kinzelbach, 1995 , and H. fortunatus sp. nov.). Four-segmented antennae, the last two flabellate, cylindrical, not flattened, and shorter in length than the width of the head; mandibles abruptly narrow at the tip; wing venation variable, but most species has R4-5 veins sightly fussed; ventral area of the hind trochanter prominent (this feature is more visible in species from Africa and Asia); legs with four tarsomeres apically dilated; aedeagus generally S-shaped, with a pronounced dorsal spine and phallobase not dilated. Female cephalothorax. Cephalothorax rhomboidal; light-colored at least in the apical area, generally dark in the metasternal area and the first abdominal segment; mandibles enclosed in the mandibular capsule, mandibular tooth variable (absent or inconspicuous in some asian species and species associated with Augochloropsis ); maxillae fused with the labial area; vestige of maxillary palp present; brood opening reduced to the central area; prosternum extended, semicircular to trapezoidal; mesosternum with conspicuous mesosternal papillae, generally arranged in the central area of the mesosternum (Some species have the papillae divided on the basal mesosternal sides); spiracles arranged in the dorsal area. First instar larva. Body rod-shaped; maxillo-labial area emarginate; prothorax not contracted at the base (contracted in most Stylopidae larvae), longer than any other thoracic segment; at least the mesocoxa and metacoxa with an elongated simple spine (bifurcated in Rozenia Straka et al. 2014 ); thorax and abdomen with posterior rows of spines of various sizes; abdomen long, measuring more than three times the size of the head and thorax.