Omphale

Female Omphale, photographed by Charley Eiseman.

Belongs within: Entedoninae.

Omphale is a diverse cosmopolitan genus of wasps that develop as endoparasites of larvae of Cecidomyiidae gall midges (Bouček 1988).

Characters (from Bouček 1988): Body varying from yellow to dark brown, rarely black; usually with faint metallic tint. Head mostly strongly collapsmg, especially face. Vertex posteriorly not carinate; eyes of medium size, eye pilosity very sparse, often indistinct. Frons with furcal grooves usually very widely diverging, scrobal grooves mostly not meeting each other, often with a membraneous area between their furcal tips and ventrally usually extending slightly below mesal margin of toruli. Lower face often with a cross-ridge or carina which may run through or slightly above upper clypeal margin. Clypeus subtriangular, trapezoidal, transverse-oval or subrectangular, shiny, even if sides of lower face are rugose-reticulate; lower clypeal margin sometimes straight, often arcuately produced, at least in one species produced margin moderately stout. Mouth of varying size but mostly broad; mandibles convex, at apex mostly with 3 teeth, lower edge in smooth arch, upper edge often with additional small but sharp teeth. Antennae weak, tapering distad; bristly, with rather sparse thin but fairly long setae in basal whorls on flagellar segments; funicle usually 3-segmented, rarely 2-segmented, if third segment is more closely applied to clava; flagellum more bristly and longer in males. Thorax shiny, smooth or alutaceous, i.e. with finely engraved reticulation the meshes of which may be lengthened in various directions. Pronotum strongly reduced, barely showing dorsally. Mesoscutum with weak notauli, these anteriorly linear and turned laterad, in posterior two-thirds replaced by expanding shallow depressions; mid lobe with two pairs of thin setae. Scutellum without grooves, mostly rounded, or slightly elongate, subpentagonal. Dorsellum narrow but distinct. Propodeum mainly smooth, not steep, slightly convex transversely, without broad supracoxal flange, often with a basal groove (along anterior margin); petiolar foramen at least one-third of propodeal breadth, often subtriangular. Metapleuron showing dorsally. Legs slender. Wings slender and with long setae, especially on marginal vein; fringe long; below marginal vein sparse pilosity which makes more conspicuous a row of long setae on ventral surface on or partly along the vein; postmarginal vein rarely shorter than the stigmal, varying to fully twice as long as the stigmal; latter short and mostly subclavate, often with a hairline. Gaster sessile, usually oval to long-lanceolate, rarely short, sparsely pilose, collapsing (not only dorsally). The longer the gaster (female) the shorter the propodeum medially.

<==Omphale Haliday 1833 (see below for synonymy) B88
    |--*O. salicis B88
    |--O. bicolorithorax (Girault 1915) [=Chrysocharomyia bicolorithorax] B88
    |--O. carlylei (Girault 1913) [=*Euderomyia carlylei] B88
    |--O. cyaneicorpus (Girault 1915) [=Chrysocharomyia cyaneicorpus] B88
    |--O. diocles (Walker 1839) [=Entedon (Omphale) diocles] B88
    |--O. doddi (Girault 1915) [=Chrysocharomyia doddi] B88
    |--‘Chrysocharomyia’ elegantissima Girault 1917 G17a
    |--O. elongata (Girault 1915) [=*Chrysocharomyia elongata] B88
    |--O. flavicorpus (Girault 1915) [=*Paromphale flavicorpus] B88
    |--O. inaerea (Girault 1915) [=Chrysocharomyia inaerea] B88
    |--O. mandibularis (Girault 1915) [=Chrysocharocharomyia mandibularis] B88
    |--O. multidentata (Girault 1915) [=Achrysocharomyia multidentata] B88
    |--‘Chrysocharomyia’ occidentalis Girault 1916 GM79
    |--‘Chrysocharomyia’ omari Girault 1917 G17b
    |--O. pronapis (Walker 1839) [=Entedon pronapis] B88
    |--O. pulchella (Girault 1915) [=Achrysocharoides pulchellus] B88
    |--O. quinquefasciata (Girault 1915) [=Achrysocharella quinquefasciata] B88
    |--O. semiflavifrons (Girault 1913) [=Achrysocharella semiflavifrons] B88
    |--‘Chrysocharomyia’ splendidissima Girault 1917 G17a
    |--O. sulcatiscutum (Girault 1924) [=*Raphaelonia sulcatiscutum] B88
    `--O. varinotata (Girault 1915) [=Chrysocharomyia varinotata] B88

Omphale Haliday 1833 [incl. Chrysocharomyia Dodd in Girault 1915, Euderomyia Girault 1913, Paromphale Girault & Dodd in Girault 1915, Raphaelonia Girault 1924, Secodes Förster 1856, Smaragdites Westwood 1833] 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).

[G17a] Girault, A. A. 1917a. Descriptiones stellarum novarum. 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: 80-101).

[G17b] Girault, A. A. 1917b. Descriptiones hymenopterorum chalcidoidicarum variorum cum observationibus. III. 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: 102-111).

[GM79] 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: 1-400.