Retusigaster Dangerfield, Austin & Whitfield, 1999

Type species.

Cardiochiles rubidus Mao, 1949

Diagnosis.

Dangerfield et al. (1999) and Mercado and Wharton (2003) provided detailed diagnostic characters. Retusigaster can be easily distinguished from other cardiochiline genera by the combination of the following characters: eye seemingly bare (Figs 2C, 3C, 5C); clypeal tubercle absent (Figs 2C, 3C, 5C); mouthparts short (Figs 2C, 3C, 5C); scutellum apically with carinate margin (Key image 2); hind tibia without apical cuplike projection (Figs 2A, 3A, 5A); ovipositor and ovipositor sheath short (Figs 2A, 3A, 5A); hypopygium entirely sclerotized and ventro-apically blunt (Figs 2A, 3A, 5A).

Distribution.

Nearctic region (Canada, USA, Mexico), Neotropical region (Jamaica and Mexico), Palearctic region (Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkey, Turkmenistan).

Biology.

Potential food sources of two species of Retusigaster are found. A member of R. arugosus was collected on cotton ( Gossypium sp.; Malvaceae) in Texas, and a specimen of R. purshi sp. nov. was collected on Mexican cliffrose ( Purshia mexicana (D. Don) S. L. Welsh; Rosaceae) in Nevada.