Proctotrupoidea, Latreille, 1802

JENNINGS, JOHN T., KROGMANN, LARS & BURWELL, CHRIS, 2013, Review of the hymenopteran fauna of New Caledonia with a checklist of species, Zootaxa 3736 (1), pp. 1-53 : 36

Proctotrupoidea

Austroniidae . This endemic Australian family is only known from three species of Austronia from wet forest habitats of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania ( Riek 1955c; Table 1). Nothing is known of their biology.

Heloridae . This family comprises a single genus, Helorus , with 13 species, most in the Holarctic ( Townes 1977b; Achterberg, 2006). Two species are known from the Australasian region: H. australiensis New, from Australia and H. niuginiae Naumann , from Papua New Guinea ( Achterberg 2006; Table 1). They are not present in either New Zealand or New Caledonia. Helorids are solitary endoparasitoids of chrysopid lacewings ( Neuroptera : Chrysopidae ), ovipositing into the larvae but emerging from the host pupae.

Peradeniidae . This endemic Australian family comprises one genus, Peradenia , with two described species ( Naumann & Masner 1985; Table 1). They are only known from a few specimens collected in forested habitats in south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. Their biology is unknown.

Proctotrupidae . Seven described species of proctotrupids are known from New Zealand and 23 from Australia ( ABRS 2013; Table 1), although for Australia this is probably less than a quarter of the true species number. In Australasia, species are probably endoparasitoids of beetle larvae, although some northern hemisphere taxa are reported to parasitise fungus gnats ( Diptera : Mycetophilidae ) ( Masner 1993). The New Caledonian proctotrupid fauna is undescribed (See Table 1).