Aulacidae

Aulacidae Temporal range:
Pristaulacus sp.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Superfamily:	Evanioidea
Family:	Aulacidae Shuckard, 1842
Genera
See text.

The Aulacidae are a small, cosmopolitan family of wasps, with two extant genera containing some 200 known species. They are primarily endoparasitoids of wood wasps (Xiphydriidae) and xylophagous beetles (Cerambycidae and Buprestidae). They are closely related to the family Gasteruptiidae, sharing the feature of having the first and second metasomal tergites fused, and having the head on a long pronotal "neck", though they are not nearly as slender and elongate as gasteruptiids, nor are their hind legs club-like, and they have more sculptured thoraces. They share the evanioid trait of having the metasoma attached very high above the hind coxae on the propodeum.

While generally rarely collected, they can be locally abundant in areas undergoing logging or forest fires. The rich fossil record of Aulacidae indicates they were quite abundant in the Mesozoic.

Genera

Aulacidae consists of 5 genera, 3 extant and 2 extinct. They are:

• Aulacus Jurine, 1807
• †Hyptiogastrites Cockerell, 1917
• Panaulix Benoit, 1984
• Pristaulacus Kieffer, 1900
• †Vectevania Cockerell, 1922

References

• Tree of Life Aulacidae
• Catalogus Evaniidorum

Further reading

• Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D. 2004, Biology and host relationships of aulacid and gasteruptiid wasps (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea): a review. In: Rajmohana, K., Sudheer, K., Girish Kumar, P., & Santhosh, S. (Eds) Perspectives on Biosystematics and Biodiversity. (University of Calicut, Kerala, India), pp. 187–215.
• Turrisi, G.F., Jennings, J.T. & Vilhelmsen, L. 2009, Phylogeny and generic concepts in the parasitoid wasp family Aulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). Invertebrate Systematics 23, 27–59. url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230725674_Phylogeny_and_generic_concepts_of_the_parasitoid_wasp_family_Aulacidae_Hymenoptera_Evanioidea

Data related to Aulacidae at Wikispecies