AnimaliaHymenopteraFigitidaevan NoortSimonBuffingtonMatthew L.ForshageMattiasAfrotropical Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera)Zookeys1420152015493117610.3897/zookeys.493.6353 Apocharips Fergusson, 1986Remarks.

Rare.

Diagnosis.

Similar to Dilyta, and most easily separated by wing ventation characters: an elongate marginal cell, a subcosta running near mid-width of wing in basal part and having a distinct curve near the basal cross-vein. Other distinguishing characters, easily observed in larger specimens but hardly seen in smaller, is the scutellum with distinct lateral and posterior carinae, and the syntergite where T2 is barely visible as a separate small anterior sclerite.

Apocharips trapezoidea (Ghana). A habitus lateral view B head and mesosoma dorsal view C head, anterior view.

Distribution.

Palearctic, Neotropical and Afrotropical. Afrotropical records: Ethiopia (Silvestri 1915), Kenya (Ferrer-Suay and Pujade-Villar 2013), Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe (here).

Biology.

Hyperparasitoids attacking wasps on psyllids (Vasileva-Sumnalieva 1976, Menke 1993). A specimen from Uganda in BMNH was reared from the psyllid Pseudoeriopsylla laingi Hollis & Broomfield, 1989 on Ficus natalensis Hochst. (label data).

Species richness.

Apocharips trapezoidea (Hartig, 1841) (Xystus) (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya; Palearctic species)

syn Alloxista peraptera Silvestri, 1915. Synonymy implied in Ferrer-Suay et al. (2013), but apparently never published as an explicit new synonymy

SilvestriF (1915) Contributo alla conoscenza degli insetti dell’ olivo dell’ Eritrea e dell’ Africa meridionale.Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria9: 240334.Ferrer-SuayMSelfaJPujade-VillarJ (2013) A review of Alloxysta species (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae: Charipinae) from Africa.African Entomology21: 255266. doi: 10.4001/003.021.0222Vasileva-SumnalievaL (1976) On the fauna and biology of the subfamily Charipinae (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) in Bulgaria.Acta Zoologica Bulgarica5: 2226.MenkeAS (1993) A new species of Apocharips from Costa Rica (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea, Charipidae).Journal of Hymenoptera Research2: 97100.