Unicalcarida

Alder wood wasp Xiphydria camelus, copyright Manuel Valdueza.

Belongs within: Holometabola.
Contains: Apocrita, Siricoidea.

The Unicalcarida are a major clade of wasps characterised by the reduction of the posterior protibial spur. Within this clade, the Vespina are united by a number of synapomorphies including loss of thoracic legs in the larvae, reduction of the larval antenna to a single segment, and accomodation of the adult mesocoxae into metepisternal depressions (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). Members of the Vespina are ancestrally parasitic as larvae. The other members of the Unicalcarida, in the Cephoidea, Xiphydriidae and Siricoidea, retain phytophagous larvae.

<==Unicalcarida PK17
    |  i. s.: Daohugoa Rasnitsyn & Zhang 2004 [Daohugoidae] RZ04
    |           `--*D. tobiasi Rasnitsyn & Zhang 2004 RZ04
    |--Vespina [Ephialtitoidea, Euhymenoptera, Evaniales, Evaniomorpha, Parasitica] BD17
    |    |  i. s.: Foenus G20
    |    |           |--F. assectator L02
    |    |           `--F. jaculator G20
    |    |         Karatavitidae R02
    |    |         Ephialtitidae R02
    |    |           |--Stephanogaster magna GE05
    |    |           |--Karataus kourios Sharkey in Darling & Sharkey 1990 RJ93
    |    |           |--Cratephialtites kourios GE05
    |    |           `--Sippelipterus liasinus Zessin 1985 RJ93
    |    |         Mesomutilla aptera Zhang 1985 RJ93
    |    |--Apocrita PK17
    |    `--Orussoidea [Idiogastra] PK17
    |         |--Paroryssidae [Parorysidae] GE05
    |         `--Orussidae HR11
    |              |--Mesorussus taimyrensis GE05
    |              |--Minyorussus luzzii GE05
    |              |--Guiglia sericata N91
    |              |--Orussobaius wilsoni N91, R70
    |              |--Orussonia N91
    |              `--Orussus Latreille 1802 L02
    |                   |--*O. coronatus Latreille 1802 L02
    |                   |--O. abietinus HR11
    |                   |--O. minutus BD17
    |                   |--O. occidentalis HR11
    |                   `--O. unicolor PK17
    `--+--Cephoidea BD17
       |    |--Sepulcidae GE05
       |    `--Cephidae HR11
       |         |--Mesocephus sibiricus Z02
       |         |--Electrocephus stralendorffi P92
       |         |--Hartigia Schioedte 1838 HR11, L59
       |         |    `--H. trimaculata HR11
       |         |--Janus Stephens 1835 RD77, BR05
       |         |    `--J. integer [incl. J. flaviventris] RD77
       |         `--Cephus Latreille 1802 L02
       |              |--*C. pygmaeus [=Sirex pygmaeus] L02
       |              |--C. cinctus [incl. C. occidentalis] RD77
       |              |--C. flavicornis Lucas 1849 E12
       |              `--C. spinipes PK17
       `--+--Siricoidea BD17
          `--Xiphydriidae [Xiphydrioidea] BD17
               |--Derycyrtinae N91
               |    |--Austrocyrta australiensis N91
               |    `--Derecyrta circularis HR11
               `--Xiphydriinae N91
                    |--Rhysacephala N91
                    `--Xiphydria Latreille 1802 L02
                         |--*X. camelus L02 [=Cephus (Xiphydra) camelus G20, Sirex camelus L02]
                         |--X. abdominalis [incl. X. attenuata] S96
                         |--X. champlaini S96
                         |--X. maculata S96
                         |--X. mellipes S96
                         |--X. prolongata HR11
                         |--X. scafa S96
                         `--X. tibialis S96

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BR05] Bouchet, P., & J.-P. Rocroi. 2005. Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia 47 (1–2): 1–397.

[BD17] Branstetter, M. G., B. N. Danforth, J. P. Pitts, B. C. Faircloth, P. S. Ward, M. L. Buffington, M. W. Gates, R. R. Kula & S. G. Brady. 2017. Phylogenomic insights into the evolution of stinging wasps and the origins of ants and bees. Current Biology 27: 1019–1025.

[E12] Evenhuis, N. L. 2012. Publication and dating of the Exploration Scientifique de l'Algérie: Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Articulés (1846–1849) by Pierre Hippolyte Lucas. Zootaxa 3448: 1–61.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[HR11] Heraty, J., F. Ronquist, J. M. Carpenter, D. Hawks, S. Schulmeister, A. P. Dowling, D. Murray, J. Munro, W. C. Wheeler, N. Schiff & M. Sharkey. 2011. Evolution of the hymenopteran megaradiation. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 60: 73–88.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[L59] Lopes, H. de S. 1959. A revision of Australian Sarcophagidae (Diptera). Studia Ent. 2 (1–4): 33–67.

[N91] Naumann, I. D. 1991. Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants, sawflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 916–1000. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[PK17] Peters, R. S., L. Krogmann, C. Mayer, A. Donath, S. Gunkel, K. Meusemann, A. Kozlov, L. Podsiadlowski, M. Petersen, R. Lanfear, P. A. Diez, J. Heraty, K. M. Kjer, S. Klopfstein, R. Meier, C. Polidori, T. Schmitt, S. Liu, X. Zhou, T. Wappler, J. Rust, B. Misof & O. Niehuis. 2017. Evolutionary history of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology 27 (7): 1013–1018.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[R02] Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2002. Superorder Vespidea Laicharting, 1781. Order Hymenoptera Linné, 1758 (=Vespida Laicharting, 1781). In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 242–254. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[RZ04] Rasnitsyn, A. P., & H. Zhang. 2004. A new family, Daohugoidae fam. n., of siricomorph hymenopteran (Hymenoptera=Vespida) from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou in Inner Mongolia (China). Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society, St. Petersburg 75 (1): 12–16.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[R70] Riek, E. F. 1970. Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 867–959. Melbourne University Press.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[S96] Smith, D. R. 1996. Aulacidae (Hymenoptera) in the mid-Atlantic states, with a key to species of eastern North America. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 98 (2): 274–291.

[Z02] Zherikhin, V. V. 2002. Ecological history of the terrestrial insects. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 331–388. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

Last updated: 20 March 2021.