The Cenocoeliinae are a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

braconid The Braconidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. After the closely related Ichneumonidae, braconids make up the second-largest family in the order Hymenoptera, with about 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. One analysis ...

parasitoid wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causin ...

Description and distribution

Cenocoeliines are medium-sized braconids (3-11 mm long) with relatively large heads. The

metasoma The metasoma is the posterior part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the mesosoma. In insects, it contains most of the digestive tract, respiratory system, and circula ...

is attached high above the hind legs on the

propodeum The propodeum or propodium is the first abdominal segment in Apocrita Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants). It is fused with the thorax to form the mesosoma. It is a single large sclerite, not subdivided, and bears a pair of spiracles. It is strongl ...

in contrast to other braconids, where the attachment is just above the hind coxa. They are non-cyclostome and females have long

ovipositor The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...

s. Their wings are often darkly colored. Cenocoeliinae have a worldwide distribution, but have been only rarely found in the

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

region. Most species are described from the Nearctic, but many undescribed species have been found in Neotropical regions.

Biology

Little is known about Cenocoeliinae biology, but records so far indicate they are koinoboint endoparasitoids of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

larvae feeding within plants. Hosts include members of

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns, are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than ...

Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families, with 6,800 genera and 83,000 species described worldwide. They are the sister group to the family Brentidae. T ...

Buprestidae Buprestidae is a family of beetles known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles because of their glossy iridescent colors. Larvae of this family are known as flatheaded borers. The family is among the largest of the beetles, with some ...

, and

Scolytinae A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although the ...

Genera

Genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

placed here include: * ''Aulacodes'' Cresson, 1865(

homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones (equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition, ...

of ''

Aulacodes ''Aulacodes'' is a genus of moths of the family Crambidae. The genus was first described by Achille Guenée in 1854. Species *'' Aulacodes adiantealis'' (Walker, 1859) *'' Aulacodes adjutrealis'' Schaus, 1924 *'' Aulacodes aechmialis'' Guenée, ...

'' Guenee, 1854, a genus of moths) * '' Capitonius'' * ''

Cenocoelius ''Cenocoelius'' is a genus of hymenopteran insects belonging to the family Braconidae. Those species whose life history has been studied are all koinobiont parasitoids on xylophagy, wood-boring beetle larvae (mainly Cerambycidae and Curculionida ...

'' * '' Evaniomorpha'' * '' Lestricus'' * '' Rattana'' * '' Ussurohelcon''

References

External links

Photos on BugGuide
* w.boldsystems.org/index.php/Taxbrowser_Taxonpage?taxon=cenocoeliinae&searchMenu=taxonomy&query=cenocoeliinae DNA barcodes at BOLD systems {{Taxonbar, from=Q4035955 Apocrita subfamilies Braconidae