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Diagnosis
All legs with tarsi 4-segmented
fore tibial spur short and straight.
Antenna usually with 2
to 4
funicular segments (rarely 1 or 5) and funicle of male
sometimes branched.
Fore wing with marginal
vein (MV) relatively long, postmarginal
(PMV) and stigmal
veins (STV) often quite short.
Mesoscutum with
or without
well-marked notauli; axilla often produced forward of the scuto-scutellar
suture.
Eulophids are often soft-bodied and may shrivel and collapse after death;
colour varying from metallic
to black to yellow.
Superfamily : Chalcidoidea
Classification
Overview
The Eulophidae is the largest family of Chalcidoidea
and they are probably the most commonly collected members of the superfamily
in all geographic realms. The family currently comprises almost 4300 described
species in 290 genera worldwide (Noyes,
2002; 2003).
The classification of the Eulophidae has recently been revised by Gauthier
et al. (2000). It is currently divided into four subfamilies,
Entedoninae, Euderinae, Eulophinae
and Tetrastichinae, all of which are
cosmopolitan in distribution (there are three small tribes which are currently
unplaced, Ophelimini, Anselmellini, Platytetracampini; however, these
do not contain species which attack leafminers). Of these four subfamilies,
leafminer parasitoids are found in the Entedoninae,
Eulophinae, and Tetrastichinae.
Although eulophids are generally parasitoids of holometabolous insects,
the overall range of hosts and biologies in Eulophidae
is incredibly diverse, and the family attacks a very wide range of hosts
as parasitoids and also contains a few phytophagous or "predatory"
species. Parasitoid forms can be internal (endoparasitoids) or external
(ectoparasitoids); idiobionts or koinobionts; solitary or gregarious;
primary parasitoids, hyperparasitoids or facultative hyperparasitoids;
specialists or generalists. Parasitoid species can attack eggs, larvae,
pupae or even adults in a few cases. Predatory eulophids display a specialised
form of parasitism where the wasp larva consumes many prey within an enclosed
space (such as a gall or an egg sac), and species that develop this way
are known to consume spider eggs in silken egg sacs (La
Salle, 1990), eriophyid mites in galls (Taylor,
1909; Vereschagina, 1961) or
even nematodes (van den Berg et al.,
1990). Phytophagous species again display a variety of life styles,
and may be inquilines within galls, gall-formers themselves (Somerfield,
1976; Hawkins & Goeden, 1982;
Headrick et al., 1995) or
internal seed feeders (Boucek, 1988;
La Salle, 1994).
The Eulophidae is probably the most important
family in terms of leafminer parasitoids, with a variety of genera specialising
on leafminers. However, most of the eulophid leafminer parasitoids are
generalists in behaviour. They are rarely host specific and usually attack
a variety of hosts, either as external parasitoids, idiobiont internal
parasitoids, or even facultative hyperparasitoids (Murphy
& La Salle, 1999). Even those thought to be specific are often
seen to attack a variety of hosts when more thorough studies are performed
(Massa et al., 2001)
Identification
Keys to the subfamilies and/or discussions of classification within the family are provided by Graham (1987), Boucek (1988), Schauff et al. (1997), and Gauthier et al. (2000). Keys to all eulophid genera exist for Australasia (Boucek, 1988) and North America (Schauff et al. 1997). Gauthier et al. (2000) provided a reclassification of the family, and listed all genera in each subfamily and tribe. Noyes (2002; 2003) provided an electronic catalogue for the entire Chalcidoidea