Aprostocetus Westwood, 1833

Yang, Man-Miao, Lin, Yu-Che, Wu, Yaojun, Fisher, Nicole, Saimanee, Titiporn, Sangtongpraow, Benjakhun, Zhu, Chaodong, Chiu, William Chien-Hsien & Salle, John La, 2014, Two new Aprostocetus species (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae), fortuitous parasitoids of invasive eulophid gall inducers (Tetrastichinae) on Eucalyptus and Erythrina, Zootaxa 3846 (2), pp. 261-272 : 263

Aprostocetus Westwood

Aprostocetus is the largest of the tetrastichine genera and it is known from all geographical realms. Species attack a wide variety of hosts, but hosts are often insects inhabiting a variety of plant galls, including Diptera , Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Coccoidea and even eriophyid mites and nematodes ( Graham 1987; La Salle 1994).

Generic keys that distinguish Aprostocetus from other tetrastichine genera are available for Australasia ( Bouček 1988), North America ( LaSalle 1994; Schauff et al. 1997), Europe ( Graham 1987, 1991) and India ( Narendran 2007). Diagnostic characters include: propodeal spiracle partially covered by a raised lobe or flap on the callus, one of the cercal setae distinctly longer than remaining setae and sinuate or curved, submarginal vein generally with 3 or more dorsal setae, malar sulcus straight or only slightly curved. Keys to species of Aprostocetus are known only for Europe ( Graham 1987) and India ( Narendran 2007).