Past and present diversity and distribution in the parasitic wasp family Megalyridae (Hymenoptera)

Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships of extant and extinct Megalyridae are analysed at the genus level. The dataset comprises seven outgroup taxa, all eight extant genera and a number of extinct taxa that have been associated with Megalyridae, including two genera from Maimetshidae, whose affinity with Megalyridae is uncertain. Analytical results are unstable because some of the fossil taxa have many missing entries. The most stable results are produced when the maimetshid taxa and Cretodinapsis are excluded. When included, these taxa fall outside crown-group Megalyridae, the maimetshid taxa being the sister of Orthogonalys (Trigonalidae). Based on the results of our analyses, we synonymize the fossil genera Rubes Perrichot n.syn. and Ukrainosa Perrichot & Perkovsky n.syn. with Prodinapsis, creating the new combinations Prodinapsis bruesi. n.comb. and Prodinapsis prolata. n.comb. When comparing past and present distributions of Megalyridae with the results of the phylogenetic analyses, it is evident that the genera radiated in the Mesozoic, and that the family as a whole was much more widespread then. The present-day distribution is essentially relictual, with range contraction since the early Tertiary probably being the result of climate deterioration, which caused the disappearance of tropical forests throughout the Palaearctic. © 2010 The Authors. Systematic Entomology © 2010 The Royal Entomological Society.