The Wharton Lab

Alexeter Foerster, 1869: 199. Type species: Mesoleptus ruficornis Gravenhorst_ [a junior subjective synonym of sextator Thunberg, 1824]. Subsequent designation by Viereck (1914: 7) from among three species originally included by Woldstedt (1877: 459).

Adranes Foerster, 1869: 205. Type species: Tryphon multicolor Gravenhorst. Subsequent designation by Townes et al. (1965: 255). Synonymized by Townes et al. (1965: 255). Preoccupied by Adranes Leconte, 1850.

Zemiophron Foerster, 1869: 206. Type species: Mesoleius laevissimus Strobl, 1903. Subsequent designation by Perkins (1962: 464). Synonymized by Perkins (1962: 464).

See Yu et al. (2012) for a discussion of the dating of Thunberg’s works, often cited as 1822.

34 valid species were included by Yu et al. (2012).

The species of Alexeter generally have a distinct fore wing areolet, a sharply impressed notaulus, mat sculpture on the ventral portion of the mesopleuron, short to absent T1 dorsal carinae, and sharp T1 dorsal-lateral carinae. There are some exceptions, making some species challenging to place. Townes (1970: 117) called attention to this fact, noting transitions between Alexter and genera such as Campodorus, Lagarotis, and Alcochera. Gauld (1997) described species from Costa Rica and noted that the ventral tooth of the mandible was distinctly longer than the dorsal tooth, unlike many Holarctic species. Alexeter will not readily flow through the key in Gauld (1997) because most species have the fore wing areolet present.

Frons without median horn or elevated carina. Clypeus short and wide, flat or more commonly with rounded transverse ridge or median elevation; ventral margin sharp throughout, often impressed medially and occasionally difficult to see medially because of partially overlapping median elevation; ventral margin varying from truncate to deeply and narrowly emarginate medially, with lateral margins rounded or more distinctly angled dorsally; epistomal sulcus varying from shallow to narrow and more distinct. Malar space usually shorter than half basal width of mandible. Mandible (Fig. 1) moderately long, narrow throughout, curved, ventral tooth varying from slightly longer than, equal to, or slightly shorter than dorsal tooth. Female and male ocelli often equal in size or nearly so, variable: maximum diameter of lateral ocellus shorter than distance between ocellus and eye in some species but distinctly longer than distance between ocellus and eye in others, though never as large as in Semimesoleius. Female antenna often longer than body; first flagellomere long and slender (Figs 1, 2). Hypostomal carina joining occipital carina well above base of mandible; occipital carina complete. Dorsal end of epicnemial carina usually extending to anterior margin of mesopleuron or nearly so, rarely distinctly separated from anterior margin; mesopleuron mat. Notaulus sharply impressed on anterior declivity, often weak to indistinct on disk. Pleural carina complete, usually well-developed; median and lateral longitudinal carinae of propodeum varying from well-developed, complete or nearly so, to almost completely absent with median carinae forming a rounded petiolar area; when present, median carinae forming rounded petiolar area then strongly narrowing and extending to anterior margin, narrow areola sometimes completely delimited but sometimes confluent with basal median area; with areola not distinctly separated from basal area, costula and other lateral parts of anterior and posterior transverse carinae absent. Legs with apical comb on posterior side of hind tibia short but well developed, dense; hind tibial spurs long, slender (Fig. 1); all tarsal claws apparently simple, not pectinate. Fore wing areolet usually present; stigma about as in Fig. 2, not exceptionally broad, with Rs+2r arising from basal 0.4-0.5; 1cu-a often interstitial with Rs+M. Hind wing with first abscissa of CU1 slightly or more commonly distinctly longer than 1cu-a. T1 (Figs 1, 2) long and slender basally, gradually widening posteriorly; dorsal carinae usually absent or confined to margins of basal depression for dorsal tendon attachment, only very rarely indicated as low, rounded ridges extending to level of spiracle; dorsal-lateral carina usually sharp and distinct throughout, sometimes weaker medially around spiracle; glymma deep, broad basally, narrowing posteriorly to a shallow groove at level of spiracle. S1 extending to level of spiracle in most species, nearly so in others. T2 thyridium present; laterotergites of T2 and T3 completely separated by creases. Ovipositor short, straight, somewhat broadened basally, narrow apically, with deep, broad subapical, dorsal notch (Figs 3, 4); ovipositor sheath shorter than hind tibial spur. Apex of female metasoma as in Fig. 3.

The genus contains some very small and some fairly large, slender species.

Holarctic and Neotropical, with some species also described from Japan.

Numerous hosts are known, and the literature is summarized by Yu et al. (2012).

This page was assembled by Bob Wharton as part of a larger collaborative effort on the genera of Ctenopelmatinae. Page last updated April, 2015.

This work would not have been possible without the groundwork provided by Ian Gauld’s study of the Australian and Costa Rican faunas, and we are particularly grateful for his assistance in many aspects of this study. We also thank David Wahl of the American Entomological Institute and Andy Bennett of the Canadian National Collection for extended loans of the material used for this study and particularly Dave Karlsson for sending valuable material from the Swedish Malaise Trap Survey (trap 22, collection event 1640) and Dmitry Kasparyan for discussions on generic limits. Matt Yoder provided considerable assistance with databasing issues, and our use of PURLs (http://purl.oclc.org) in this regard follows the example of their use in publications by Norm Johnson. Heather Cummins, Caitlin Nessner, Karl Roeder, Danielle Restuccia, and Cheryl Hyde graciously assisted with image processing, formatting, and literature retrieval. This study was supported by the National Science Foundation’s PEET program under Grant No. DEB 0328922 and associated REU supplement #s DEB 0723663 and 0923134.

This material is based upon work at Texas A&M University supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DEB 0328922 with REU supplements DEB 0723663 and 0923134. 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.