Xyalaspis Hartig, 1843

Noort, Simon van, Buffington, Matthew L. & Forshage, Mattias, 2015, Afrotropical Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera), ZooKeys 493, pp. 1-176 : 28-31

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Figitidae

Xyalaspis Hartig, 1843

Remarks.

Not common in the Afrotropical region. The genus is often difficult to separate from Aegilips and requires revision.

Diagnosis.

Xyalaspis are often easy to recognise by their very distinct scutellar spines, but several taxa have more blunt or moderate spines that are close to character states found in Aegilips . In these cases, the scutellum of Xyalaspis is characterised by a heavier foveolate sculpture, where no circumscutellar carina is obvious. As currently circumscribed, the genus is somewhat heterogenous in the Afrotropical region, and a distinct species group is characterised by a strongly sculptured mesoscutum with longitudinal carinae as well as strong genal carinae.

Distribution.

Mainly Holarctic, but also present throughout the Old World Tropics. Afrotropical records: South Africa ( Kieffer 1912), Nigeria, Uganda ( Mata-Casanova et al. 2014), Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Yemen, Zimbabwe (here).

Biology.

Parasitoids of aphidivorous Neuroptera larvae ( Fergusson 1986, Miller and Lambdin 1985).

Species richness.

Xyalaspis capensis (Kieffer, 1912), comb. n. ( Aegilips ) (South Africa, Zimbabwe) (Type supposedly in ZMBH, but not found there. However, the original description has been deemed sufficient for generic placement here)

Xyalaspis subsaharica Mata-Casanova & Pujade-Villar, 2014 (Nigeria, Uganda)

Several undescribed species from elsewhere in the region.