Pristocera Klug, 1808

Fadeev, Kirill I., 2021, Review of the genera Pristocera Klug and Pristepyris Kieffer (Hymenoptera Bethylidae, Pristocerinae) of Russia and adjacent territories, Zootaxa 4965 (3), pp. 461-482 : 463

Genus Pristocera Klug, 1808

Type-species: Bethylus depressus Fabricius, 1804 .

Synonyms. See Azevedo et al. 2018a, 2018b.

Pristocera is a type-genus of Pristocerinae , which includes 133 species distributed in hot and temperate areas of the Old World (Afrotropical, Oriental, and South Palaearctic regions) ( Azevedo et al. 2018b). Most species are known from males and less than 20 species of the genus are known from both sexes ( Azevedo et al. 2018a). Most of species of this genus (111 species) inhabit the Afrotropical region, and about 15 species were described from the Oriental region.

In the Palaearctic, only five species were recorded, below listed: four species are from its western part and only one from their eastern part at the junction with the Oriental region, and only two these species are known by two sexes.

The key to the world species of Pristocera was prepared by Kieffer (1914) and includes 33 species known in that time, together with four Western Palaearctic taxa. This very outdated key was based on the characters of external morphology and never use the features of the genital structures and hypopygium of males. The Western Palaearctic species of the genus Pristocera require modern revision with using of both sexes.

Originally only P. depressa was found in Europe and its both sexes are known and illustrated ( Kieffer & Marshall 1904 –1906, Kieffer 1914, Richards 1939, Bognár 1955, 1957, Macek et al. 2010). This species has already been recorded from the territory of Russia from their southwest Provinces of the European part ( Trjapitzin 1978, Fadeev 2017, Lelej & Fadeev 2017).

The members of this genus is ectoparasitoids of the larvae of beetle families Curculionidae ( Baker 1976) and Elateridae ( Miwa & Sonan 1935, Bognár 1955, 1957, Evans 1978). For the complete diagnosis of the genus and citation see Azevedo et al. (2018b).