Thaumasura

Dorsal view of head to mesoscutum of Thaumasura annulicornis, from Bouček (1988).

Belongs within: Chalcidoidea.

Thaumasura is a genus of wasps found in south-east Asia and Australasia that develop as parasites of wood-boring beetle larvae. Adults are mainly found on dying or freshly felled trees (Bouček 1988).

Characters (from Bouček 1988): Relatively large body size; coloration often metallic; females with gaster prolonged into a tail. Forewing often bearing a double infumation; head mostly almost as in grasshoppers, with large elongate (and mostly bare) eyes and swollen cheeks. Elongate eyes often bearing (especially when alive) cross-bands which partly coincide with metallic cross-bands on the face, changing often from blue-violet to red or dark purpureous, bright pale green to blue-green, combined with thick silvery pilosily. Antennae and legs slender but pronotum mostly only of moderate length. Notauli complete, narrowly groove-like, anterior margin of the scutellum straight. Gaster relatively slender, in the female the ovipositor always projecting and partly covered by the extended epipygium. Epipygium may be longer than gastral body and cover whole ovipositor but with the precercal part very short, or even much longer than gaster with the precercal part also very long and yet the sheaths still protruding far beyond the epipygium, or with the precercal part short and the postcercal part only little more than twice as long as the sixth tergite, with the ovipositor protruding beyond the epipygium.

<==Thaumasura Westwood 1868 (see below for synonymy) B88
    |--*T. terebrator Westwood 1868 [incl. Belonea erythropoda Cameron 1888] B88
    |--T. annulicornis (Cameron 1912) [=Aressida annulicornis] B88
    |--T. arboris Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. australica (Westwood 1874) [=*Belonea australica] B88
    |--T. australiensis Bouček 1988 [=*Calosetroides australica Girault 1913 non Belonea australica Westwood 1874] B88
    |--T. bella Girault 1927 B88
    |--T. brevicaudata (Westwood 1874) [=Belonea brevicaudata] B88
    |--T. brevistylus (Girault 1915) [=Agamerionella brevistylus] B88
    |--T. carinicollis (Cameron 1911) [=*Aressida carinicollis] B88
    |--T. colliscutellum Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. dentatitibia Girault 1927 B88
    |--T. diana Girault 1928 B88
    |--T. eleganta Girault 1926 B88
    |--T. femoralis (Westwood 1874) [=Belonea femoralis] B88
    |--T. fera Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. goethei Girault 1937 B88
    |--T. imperialis (Froggatt 1927) [=Aressida imperialis] B88
    |--T. juno Girault 1926 B88
    |--T. locustiformis (Girault 1915) [=*Agamerionella locustiformis] B88
    |--T. longa Girault 1928 B88
    |--T. macrocalculus Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. magnicalculus G28
    |--T. magnispina Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. micans Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. nelsoni Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. nigricornis (Cameron 1912) [=Aressida nigricornis] B88
    |--T. niobe Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. pavo (Girault 1915) [=Agamerionella pavo] B88
    |--T. rubrifunicle Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. rubritibia Girault 1932 B88
    |--T. rubrofemoralis Ashmead 1900 B88
    |--T. sanguinipes (Girault 1915) [=Agamerionella sanguinipes] B88
    |--T. scutellata (Girault 1915) [=Agamerionella sanguinipes var. scutellatus] B88
    |--T. solis Girault 1932 B88
    `--T. westwoodi Girault 1917 B88

Thaumasura Westwood 1868 [=Thaumatopus Schulz 1906, Thaumatura Schulz 1906; incl. Agamerionella Girault 1915, Aressida Cameron 1911, Belonea Westwood 1874, Calosetroides Girault 1913; Thaumasurini] B88

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B88] Bouček, Z. 1988. Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera): A biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).

[G28] Girault, A. A. 1928. Some new hexapods stolen from authority. Privately published (reprinted Gordh, G., A. S. Menke, E. C. Dahms & J. C. Hall. 1979. The privately printed papers of A. A. Girault. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 28: 221-224).