Basalys Westwood, 1833

Hou, Zi & Xu, Zaifu, 2016, First record of the genus Basalys Westwood, 1833 (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) from China, with descriptions of two new species, Zoological Systematics 41 (3), pp. 337-341 : 337-338

Genus Basalys Westwood, 1833

Basalys Westwood, 1833: 343 ; Ashmead, 1893: 407; Masner, 1964: 85; Kozlov, 1978: 594; Nixon, 1980: 10; Huggert, 1982: 189; Masner & Gracía, 2002: 70; Rajmohana, 2006: 28. Type species: Basalys fumipennis Westwood, by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Female antenna 11- or 12-segmented, with abrupt 3- or 4-segmented club. Male antenna 14-segmented. Pronotum usually with thick woolly collar. Notauli absent. Mesoscutellum with distinct basal fovea. Propodeum with area between median keel and plica almost glabrous. Fore wing always with distinct basal vein. Syntergite with anterior margin straight and complete, without notch or furrow (Masner & Gracía, 2002; Rajmohana, 2006).

Biology. Some of these tiny wasps were reared from Diptera puparia ( Wright et al., 1947; Notton, 1991). Several were collected in ant nests (Masner & Gracía, 2002; Loiácono et al., 2013).

Distribution. Worldwilde.

Key to Chinese species of the genus Basalys (based on female).

1. Head 1.08 times as long as wide in dorsal view, 1.65 times as long as high in lateral view; head behind eyes slightly wider than mesosoma; eye 1.67 times as long as malar space; petiole with some longitudinal keels on dorsal surface ........... B. sinensis sp. nov. Head 0.86 times as long as wide in dorsal view, 0.92 times as long as high in lateral view; head behind eyes much wider than mesosoma; eye 2.27 times as long as malar space; petiole without longitudinal keels on dorsal surface .................... B. leleji sp. nov.