The Wharton Lab

Bracanastrepha Brethès, 1924: 8. Type species: Bracanastrepha argentina Brethès, 1924 (monobasic). The type species is a junior, subjective synonym of Opius anastrephae Viereck, 1913 (Wharton and Marsh 1978).

Type locality of type species: Argentina, Corrientes; type in Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires (Wharton and Marsh 1978).

Treated as a valid genus by Fischer (1972), with three subgenera included by Fischer (1977). Included as a subgenus of Utetes by Wharton 1988, with restricted definition excluding many of the species formerly included by Fischer.

Bracanastrepha is treated under Utetes. Neotropical species of the genus Utetes that lack an occipital carina were placed by Fischer (Fischer 1972, Fischer 1977) in the genus Bracanastrepha. Wharton (1988) initially treated Bracanastrepha as a subgenus of Utetes and later (Wharton 1997) discussed this group of neotropical species in more detail, referring to it as the Utetes anastrephae species group.

See also the Utetes page.

The species of Bracanastrepha, in the strict sense, are defined by the complete absence of an occipital carina (Fig. 2), the presence of a basal, longitudinal carina on the posterior side of the hind tibia (Fig. 3), the short clypeus with exposed labrum (Fig. 4), and fore wing m-cu postfurcal (Fig. 5). Additionally, the hind wing radial sector and m-cu are absent (Fig. 5) and the mesoscutal midpit is present (Fig. 6).

This page was assembled by Bob Wharton and Danielle Restuccia. It is part of a review of the genera of World Opiinae, conducted at Texas A&M University. We are particularly grateful to Xanthe Shirley, Andrew Ly, Patricia Mullins, Trent Hawkins, Lauren Ward, Cheryl Hyde, Karl Roeder, and Andrea Walker, who did nearly all of the imaging (together with Danielle) for this project. Matt Yoder and Istvan Miko provided guidance on databasing issues associated with our use of mx and HAO respectively. This project would not have been possible without the kindness of many curators at museums throughout the world who gave generously of their time to Bob Wharton and his students. In particular, I thank Henry Townes (deceased) and David Wahl (American Entomological Institute, Gainesville), Gordon Nishida (Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu), Norm Penny, and Bob Zuparko (California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco), Bill Mason (deceased), Mike Sharkey, Andrew Bennett, and Henri Goulet (Canadian National Collection, Ottawa), Paul Dessart (deceased) (Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels), Marc De Meyer (Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Tervuren), Axel Bachmann (Museo Argentino de Ciencias Natureles, Buenos Aires), Eberhard Koenigsmann (deceased) and Frank Koch (Museum fuer Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin), J. Casevitz Weulersse and Claire Villemant (Museum National d’Historie Naturelle, Paris), James O’Connor (National Museum of Ireland, Dublin), Jenö Papp (National Museum of Natural History, Budapest), Kees van Achterberg (National Museum of Natural History, Leiden), Max Fischer, Herb Zettel, and Dominique Zimmermann (Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien), Per Persson and Lars-Åke Janzon (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm), Ermenegildo Tremblay (Silvestri Collection, Portici), Erasmus Haeselbarth (Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns, Munich), Tom Huddleston and Gavin Broad (The Natural History Museum, London), Paul Marsh and Robert Kula (USDA Systematic Research Laboratory and US National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C.), Vladimir Tobias (deceased) and Sergey Belokobylskij (Zoological Institute, Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg), and Roy Danielsson (Zoological Institute, Department of Systematics, Lund) for facilitating loans and general assistance associated with examination of holotypes and other material in their care. This work was supported largely by NSF/PEET DEB 0328922 and 0949027, with REU supplements 0723663, 1026618, 1213790, and 1313933 (to Wharton). Page last updated July, 2015. The material on this page is freely available, but should be acknowledged if used elsewhere.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers DEB 9300517, DEB (PEET) 9712543, DEB (PEET) 0328922 with REU supplements 0723663 and 1026618 and DEB 0949027 with REU supplements 1213790 and 1313933. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.