Cyphacolus bouceki sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) from Australia with a discussion of generic relationships within the Baeini

Abstract

The genus Cyphacolus Priesner, 1951 is unusual among members of the Baeini in having elytraform fore wings and lacking fore wing venation. It is closely allied to Odontacolus Kieffer, 1910 based on the laterally compressed metasomal horn and pedunculate metasoma and may render this genus paraphyletic. Previously known only from the type species, C. veniprivus Priesner, 1951 from Egypt, Cyphacolus is now recorded by several rarely collected species from the Afrotropical, Oriental and Australian regions. Here we describe the most common species from Australia, Cyphacolus bouceki sp. nov., which may have a disjunct wet forest distribution between north and south-east Queensland. In addition, we transfer Tetrabaeus bhowaliensis Mani et Mukerjee, 1976 to Cyphacolus (comb. nov.), it being previously misplaced in the Platygastridae, and we discuss the relationships of Cyphacolus within the Baeini, an extremely diverse tribe whose members are endoparasitoids of spider eggs.