Seventh International Congress of Hymenopterists

7 th International Congress of Hymenopterists
20-26 June 2010, Kszeg Hungary
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Surveys in the following years have revealed that the exotic parasitoid is well established in
the new environment and is under active reproduction.
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The importance of morphology in the age of molecular hymenopteran phylogenetics
Seán G. Brady
Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC,
USA; bradys@si.edu
Molecular data are eclipsing morphology as the primary source of phylogenetic characters for
many hymenopteran groups. Molecular data also increasingly impact other areas of
systematics such as species discovery and identification. In general, the study of morphology
is becoming increasingly marginalized in the genomics era. I discuss case studies from own
work on ants and bees that illustrate the continued importance of morphological data for
molecular phylogenetics. These examples include incorporating fossils into phylogeny,
inferring divergence dates, studying rare taxa, establishing independent sources of
phylogenetic data, corroborating novel molecular clades, and creating diagnostic
morphological keys based on molecular phylogeny. This is far from an exhaustive list of how
morphology can impact molecular phylogenetics. As hymenopteran systematists embrace the
vast potential offered by genetic and genomic data, we also have much to gain in continuing
to forge new advances in morphological systems. The more that we as a community explicitly
demonstrate to our colleagues the positive interplay between morphology and molecules, the
better this perspective can be realized.
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Phylogeny and re-classification of the genera of the ctenopelmatine tribe, Perilissini
(Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae)
Gavin R. Broad 1 * & Robert A. Wharton 2
1 Department of Entomology, the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK;
g.broad@nhm.ac.uk
2 Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA;
rawbaw2@neo.tamu.edu
The ichneumonid subfamily Ctenopelmatinae is a heterogeneous assemblage of genera that
are endoparasitoids of sawfly larvae and are more or less unsatisfactorily classified in up to
nine tribes. Some of these tribes are very poorly defined, including the Perilissini. As part of
a larger, PEET-funded initiative on the phylogeny and classification of Ctenopelmatinae, we
have been concentrating on scoring the genera of Perilissini for a wide spectrum of
morphological characters. We aim to (1) provide a re-definition of the Perilissini based on
apomorphic characters; (2) re-classify those genera erroneously placed in Perilissini (e.g.
Perilimicron); (3) produce a (hopefully relatively robust) phylogeny of the genera of
Perilissini; (4) define the genera of Perilissini; and (5) re-classify the various species groups
of the species-rich and vague genera, Lathrolestes and Perilissus. We present preliminary
phylogenetic trees and an exploration of various character systems. Some novel characters
are introduced (such as the shape of the upper division of the metapleurum) that have proved
very useful in defining large groups of genera.
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