FNZ 13 - Encyrtidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) - Faunal Relationships
Noyes, JS 1988. Encyrtidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Fauna of New Zealand 13, 192 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
13.
ISBN 0-477-02517-X (print),
).
Published 09 May 1988
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/107A9B9F-38FF-4B86-B0B6-B14969CE1C4B
Faunal Relationships
The probable origins of the New Zealand encyrtid fauna are presented in Table 1. Of the 70 species of Encyrtidae recorded from New Zealand, more than half are thought to be either endemic or indigenous. For the purposes of this study a species is regarded as endemic if it is not known to exist, or have existed, outside New Zealand. A species is here regarded as indigenous if it is known from outside New Zealand and is likely to have reached here without the aid of man. All such species have probably originated from Australia. Unfortunately our knowledge of the Australian encyrtid fauna is far from complete, and therefore it is difficult to distinguish between endemic and indigenous species. Similarly, it is not easy to distinguish between species which have found their way to New Zealand naturally from Australia and those that have been introduced recently by man. It is also likely that species associated with exotic plants were introduced with these plants; e.g., Psyllaephagus species, parasites of psyllids on Acacia and Eucalyptus.
Of the species which have probably been brought to New Zealand recently by man, nine are known to have been introduced intentionally for biological control purposes (see below). It is possible that a further one or two species were knowingly introduced from elsewhere, but that these introductions went unrecorded.
Nearly all introduced species are associated with pastures, gardens, and forests, although an exception, Eusemion cornigerum, is associated with alpine habitats above 1000 m.
All endemic species appear to be associated with native plants in gardens, native forests, or subalpine and alpine native grasslands.
| Table 1: Possible faunal relationships of New Zealand's Encyrtidae |
|
Endemic (31)
Indigenous (ex Australia) (8)
Introduced (Europe) (10)
Introduced (Australia) (14)
Introduced (Hawaii) (1)
Introduced (S. America) (3)
Introduced (N. America) (1)
Introduced (Japan) (1)
Introduced (S. Africa) (1)
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