World Diaprioidea's Journal

Following a few queries I wanted to explain that the gender of Basalys is certainly masculine, though this has been widely misunderstood and there are many misspellings in the literature and online.

There are two reasons why:

1) etymology - Basalys Westwood, 1833 is derived from Greek βασις (foot) + αλυς (listlessness); an appropriate name for a wasp which will not sit still. Since αλυς is masculine this genus has masculine gender (M.A.Alonso-Zarazaga pers. comm.; ICZN 1999: Article 30.1.2). Westwood was somewhat of a classical linguist and commonly used Greek words when composing the names of genera, so while the species of this genus usually have a distinct basal vein, linguistically Basalys is not connected with the Latin word basalis (basal) except possibly that Westwood may have intended it as a homophonic pun (Notton, 2014).

2) gender agreement in Westwood's original description of the genus (Westwood, 1833), not with the species epithet fumipennis which could be either feminine or masculine, but in the following Latin description where Basalys is described with masculine adjective forms 'Niger, nitidus, ...'. for comparaison just above in the same article, Streblocera (feminine) is described with feminine adjective forms ' ... nigra nitida...'. So Westwood treated Basalys as masculine in the original description.

Notton DG (2014) A catalogue of the types of Diapriinae (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae) at the Natural History Museum, London. European Journal of Taxonomy 75(75): 1–123. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2014.75

Westwood, J.O. (1833) ‘Descriptions of several new British forms amongst the parasitic hymenopterous insects’, London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 3 (17), pp. 342–344.

Have you seen this @proctos

This observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152059932

Previously from Hungary and Denmark: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259195675_New_and_notable_European_Trichopria_Hym_Proctotrupoidea_Diapriidae

This appears to be the first record of the genus Coptera in Australia, unless anyone has a previous one? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109500586

This specimen may represent a new species and genus of the family Monomachidae: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/47650538

It's a wingless female, but only two monomachid species are known in S. America with wingless females, both in the genus Chasca (https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3188.1.2), and it doesn't look like them because it differs markedly in the form of the gaster among other things.

I'm not aware of any formal publications mentioning this, so the observation by @gwark may be the first: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/77697710

Recently published! Revision of Palaearctic Idiotypa (Hymenoptera, Diapriidae, Diapriinae, Spilomicrini) - Chemyreva, Notton & Zaldívar-Riverón.

Free download on request here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351287846_Revision_of_Palaearctic_Idiotypa_Hymenoptera_Diapriidae_Diapriinae_Spilomicrini

A revision of the Palaearctic species of the genus Idiotypa Förster is provided. The genus Eunuchopria Szabó, 1961 is a junior synonym of Idiotypa Förster, 1856 syn. n. and the new combination Idiotypa nitens (Szabó, 1961) comb. n., is established. Dublicate original spellings I. marii and I. mariae are resolved by first reviser action; I. mariae is now the correct original spelling. Lectotypes are designated for Idiotypa mariae and I. maritima. New synonymy is proposed: I. maritima (Haliday, 1833) = I. rufiventris (Thomson, 1858) syn. n.; = I. nigriceps Kieffer, 1909 syn. n.; = I. nigriceps Kieffer, 1911 syn. n. The three valid species I. mariae Gregor, 1939, I. maritima (Haliday, 1833) and I. nitens (Szabó, 1961) are redescribed, illustrated and keyed.

Specimens at @NHM_London are digitised here: http://data.nhm.ac.uk

This genus Paramesius is newly reported from Hawaii, based on the observation posted by @Deptula https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41970564 which elicited an independent confirmation by @kmagnacca who has collected it on Kauai and Hawaii in native forest. Not a great surprise as it's a widespread genus. Not sure if it's native or introduced.

The taxonomy for world Diaprioidea used by iNaturalist is quite incomplete, but it's easy to get new names added if you need. Anyone can ask - general instructions here: ttps://www.inaturalist.org/pages/curator+guide#adding

I found also that you can go to the next available parent taxon record, usually the relevant genus, and click on the curation button and you can send a message to the relevant curator to ask for a species taxon to be added.

If you have any problems let me know and I'll see if I can help

David

If you want to make an observation for a diaprioid please remember that since most are tiny and there are 1000s of similar species, high quality photographs are needed to give identifiers the best chance to make an identification. As a rule of thumb, please ensure the pics are good enough that the number of antennal segments are clearly visible, also views from above and from the side!

So far less than 3% of records have reached "Research grade", with better images that might be improved.

Thank you!

D

Diaprioids are a major group of parasitoid wasps found worldwide on all continents except Antarctica. This project covers the families Diapriidae, Ismaridae, Maamingidae (New Zealand) and Monomachidae (Neotropics and Australia).

Please join!

David