Aphidiinae

Aphidiinae
Praon cocoon below hollowed aphid
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Superfamily:	Ichneumonoidea
Family:	Braconidae
Subfamily:	Aphidiinae
Diversity
c. 50 genera, 400 species

The Aphidiinae are a subfamily of parasitoid wasps that use aphids as their host. While the larva of the 2–3 mm long Praon leaves the hollowed shell of the aphid from below to pupate in a volcano-like cocoon, most other Aphidiinae pupate inside the dead aphid.

Several species have been used in biological control programs of aphids.

Systematics

Although they have often been treated as a separate family, the Aphidiidae, the Aphidiinae are a lineage within the Braconidae. It is not yet clear to which braconid subfamilies they are most closely related.

Ephedrini Praini Aphidiini Monoctonina Trioxina Aphidiina

Aphidiinae relationships (after Shi & Chen 2005)

The Aphidiinae are subdivided into several tribes, the Ephedrini, Praini and Aphidiini, with the latter subdivided into three subtribes.^[1] Most species reside in the Aphidiini. The Praini's loss of internal pupation is likely to be secondary.^[2]

Genera

parasitized aphid, still closed

parasitized aphid with exit hole

Ephedrini

• Ephedrus
• Toxares

Praini

• Praon
• Dyscritulus
• Harkeria
• Areopraon

Trioxini

• Trioxys
• Binodoxys
• Monoctonus
• Monoctonia
• Lipolexis

Aclitini^[3]

• Aclitus

Aphidiini

• Aphidius
• Diaeretiella
• Diaeretus
• Diaeretellus
• Lysaphidus
• Lysiphlebia
• Paralipsis
• Pauesia
• Protaphidius
• Pseudopauesia
• Adialytus
• Lysiphlebus
• Xenostigmus

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

See also

• Aphidius nigripes

Footnotes

1. Shi & Chen 2005
2. Belshaw & Quicke 1997
3. Žikić, et al. 2012

References

• Belshaw, R. & Quicke, D.L.J. (1997): A Molecular Phylogeny of the Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 7(3): 281-293. Abstract
• Shi, Min & Chen, Xue-Xin (2005): Molecular phylogeny of the Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) based on DNA sequences of 16S rRNA, 18S rDNA and ATPase 6 genes. Eur. J. Entomol. 102: 133-138. PDF
• Žikić, V., Ilić, M., Stanković, S., Petrović, A., Petrović-Obradović, O., Kavallieratos, N. G., Starý, P., and Tomanović, Ž. (2012): Aphidiinae (Braconidae: Hymenoptera) of Serbia and Montenegro – tritrophic interactions. Acta Entomologica Serbica 17(1/2): 83-105.

External links

• BugGuide.net: Pictures of Aphidiinae
• Cedar Creek: Picture of a Praon sp.
• brown citrus aphid parasitoid, Lipolexis scutellaris on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site