The Wharton Lab

Xynobius Foerster, 1862: 235. Type species: Xynobius pallipes Foerster, 1862 (monobasic and original designation), a junior subjective synonym of Opius caelatus Haliday.

Type locality of type species: Germany; primary type in Museum fuer Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin.

Variously treated as a subgenus of Opius (Fischer 1972, 1999; Tobias 1998); as a separate genus (van Achterberg 1997, 2004); and as a subgenus of Eurytenes (Wharton 2006, Walker and Wharton 2011).

Eurytenes was originally described by Foerster (1862) to accommodate Opius abnormis Wesmael, 1835, a species with distinctive wing venation. Wharton (1988) broadened the concept of Eurytenes by including Opius macrocerus Thomson, 1895, and Fischer (1998) expanded the concept further, proposing six subgenera (Eurytenes s. s., Jucundopius Fischer, 1984; Stigmatopoea Fischer, 1986; Xynobiotenes Fischer, 1998; Oetzalotenes Fischer, 1998; Opiotenes Fischer, 1998). Van Achterberg (2004) recognized Xynobius Foerster, 1862 as a valid genus and transferred Stigmatopoea to it but did not discuss Eurytenes. Wharton (2006) placed Xynobius as a subgenus of Eurytenes. Eurytenes s. s. is defined by the attachment of the radial cross-vein (= r) to the extreme base of the stigma. In the remaining subgenera of Eurytenes s. l. (Xynobius, Jucundopius, Stigmatopoea, Xynobiotenes, Oetzalotenes, and Opiotenes), r arises more distally along the stigma.

Wharton (1988, 2006), Fischer (1998), and Wu and Chen (2006) provide diagnoses for Eurytenes s. s. and s. l.

In his treatment of Xynobius, Van Achterberg (2004) included four subgenera: Xynobius s.s., Stigmatopoea, Sulcynobius van Achterberg, 2004, and Paraxynobius van Achterberg, 2004. He additionally listed Aclisis Foerster, 1862, Biophthora Foerster, 1862, Holconotus Foerster, 1862, Aulonotus Ashmead, 1900, and Eristernaulax Viereck, 1914 as synonyms of Xynobius. Wharton (2006) later reinstated Biophthora as a valid genus.

Xynobius has long been characterized by the sculptured scutellum (Fig. 11) (Fischer 1972), though this is not a completely reliable characteristic since a few other opiines also have this feature (Wharton 2006). Van Achterberg (2004) correctly noted similarities between Xynobius and members of the Exothecini that suggest a basal placement for this and related opiines within the subfamily. The type species of Xynobius has well-developed, sculptured notauli and a mesoscutal midpit (Figs 8-11), a widely exposed labrum with protruding, sharply margined clypeus (Figs 3, 4), mandible without a basal tooth or lobe, a dorsope on T1 (Fig. 14), and venation as in Fig. 12.

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 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 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.