Prospaltellini Nikol’skaya stat. rev.

(Figure 3A,B)

Prospaltellinae Nikol’skaya’s and Yasnosh 1966: 143, 240. Type genus Prospaltella Ashmead, 1904 in Ashmead 1904b.

Encarsini Viggiani and Battaglia 1984: 169 . Type genus Encarsia Förster, 1878 . As a tribe of Coccophaginae .

Prospaltellini Nikol’skaya’s and Yasnosh 1966 in Shafee and Rizvi, 1978: 103, 106.

Diagnosis

Antenna usually with rounded apex (Figure 3A), some species with spindle-shaped antenna, if so, parasitoids of Diaspididae (Figure 3B); clava sometimes enlarged; axilla usually subquadrate (rarely subtriangular); tarsal formula either 5-5-5 or 5-4-5 (if antenna spindle-like, then submarginal vein with 2-setae and tarsal formula 5-5-5); syntergum undivided. Females are parasitoids of Aleyrodidae and Diaspididae (as well as several less common hosts). Males, where present, are autoparasitoids or heterotrophic parasitoids.

Comments

Prospaltellini stat. rev. contains a single genus ( Encarsia) with 486 species (Kresslein et al. 2023). Most recently Encarsia was placed in the tribe Pteroptricini Ashmead, 1904 . Pteroptricini was diagnosed by subquadrate axilla, a medially membranous pronotum, and a sparsely setose mid lobe of the mesoscutum. Contemporary phylogenetic analyses (Cruaud et al. 2024; Kresslein 2024) recover the monophyly of Encarsia, but a polyphyletic Pteroptricini . Thus, we revive Prospaltellini and restrict Pteroptricini to Pteroptrix Westwood, 1833, Bardylis Howard, 1907, Coccophagoides Girault, 1915, and Diaspiniphagus Silvestri, 1927 . Presently, 34 species groups of Encarsia are recognised (Kresslein et al. 2023); however, ongoing analyses are examining the phylogenetic stability of these species groups and may result in the creation of additional genera within Prospaltellini .