The Wharton Lab

Ademon Haliday, 1833: 266. Type species: Bracon decrescens Nees von Esenbeck, 1811. (monobasic).

Type locality of type species: Germany; type specimen presumably lost.
Valid genus

Ademon has been considered by some as the basal-most taxon within the Opiinae because of the presence of both a complete occipital carina (Figs 1-4) and an epicnemial carina (Figs 1, 6). Loss of these features is considered a derived trait, but is homoplastic as evidenced by repeated loss of one or both features throughout the family Braconidae. A rigorous phylogenetic analysis of the Opiinae has never been attempted, and thus the hypothesis of a basal position for Ademon has not been adequately tested. Our work suggests that these features may be associated, at least in Ademon, with an aquatic existence, and that the evidence for a basal position for Ademon is slim at best.

The Nearctic species of Ademon have not been adequately differentiated. Females of one species, Ademon satanus Fischer, 1965, are readily distinguished by the distinctly longer ovipositor. Though not noted in previous studies, the pronotal collar in dorsal view also lacks the deep, rectangular pits seen in the other two previously described species. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the deep pits for Ademon ovalis Fischer, 1965. Ademon ovalis and Ademon niger (Ashmead, 1895) have been differentiated largely by color and by the sculpture and shape of abdominal terga. Unfortunately, we have discovered that all three characters are variable. Our initial assessment suggests that there is sufficient variation between sexes of the same species to preclude unequivocal use of these characters.

Among the Opiinae, Ademon is readily recognized by the heavily sculptured body (Figs 1-3) with apparent presence of an epicnemial carinae (Fig. 1). The occipital carina is also complete dorsally (Fig. 3), and the apex of the radial sector (RS) does not reach the wing margin as a tubular vein.

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 Hee Kim and Lucy Benevides who did all of the imaging for this page. 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, for this page, I thank Bill Mason (deceased) (Canadian National Collection, Ottawa), Paul Dessart (deceased) (Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels), Eberhard Koenigsmann (deceased) and Frank Koch (Museum fuer Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin), James O’Connor (National Museum of Ireland, Dublin), Max Fischer, Herb Zettel, and Dominique Zimmermann (Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien), and Paul Marsh (USDA Systematic Research Laboratory and US National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C.) for facilitating loans and general assistance associated with examination of holotypes and other material in their care. Page last updated June, 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/PEET under Grant Number DEB 9712543. 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.