Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #117100

Title: WORLD CATALOG OF THE FAMILY AULACIDAE (HYMENOPTERA)

Author
item Smith, David

Submitted to: Transactions of the American Entomological Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/28/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Wood-boring insects cause millions of dollars of damage each year to forests and forest products and ornamental trees and shrubs. Their parasitoids may be significant in biological control of these pests and offer an alternative to pesticide application. Parasites of the family Aulacidae attack wood-boring wasps, longhorned beetles, and flatheaded borers. About 155 world species have been described, and they are found i most regions of the world. A comprehensive catalog has never been published. The valid species are listed, and their distributions and hosts are given. All world literature pertaining to each species is presented. This will be a valuable, time-saving reference for scientists and biological control workers, and serves as a basis for future systematic and biological work on the family.

Technical Abstract: The world fauna of the family Aulacidae is cataloged. Three valid genera and 155 valid species are included. Distributions, hosts, and all literature pertaining to each species are presented. The Aulacidae are parasitoids of wood-boring Hymenoptera (Xiphydriidae) and Coleoptera (primarily Buprestidae and Cerambycidae but also recorded from Bostrichidae, Cleridae, and Scolytidae). Aulacids are found in all region of the world, with 34 described from the Australian Region, 39 from the Neotropical region, 30 from the Nearctic Region, 21 from the Oriental Region, 26 from the Palearctic Region, and 4 from subsaharan Africa. A host list and a plant list are given, the plant list including recorded plants from which aulacids have emerged. Thirty-three new combinations, two new names (Aulacus forus for Parafoenus formosus Kieffer 1911 and Pristaulacus karinulus for Pristaulacus kiefferi Enderlein 1912), and one new synonym (Interaulacus kiefferi Bradley 1908 = Pristaulacus caudatus Sz pligeti 1903) are proposed.