FNZ 15 - Ambositrinae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Diapriidae) - Wing Reduction
Naumann, ID 1988. Ambositrinae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Diapriidae). Fauna of New Zealand 15, 168 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
15.
ISBN 0-477-02535-8 (print),
).
Published 30 Dec 1988
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/A36FCA5A-BCD6-47DE-9DBC-39D98FBEF1B4
Wing Reduction
In New Zealand many insect families include a strikingly large number of species which are secondarily flightless (Holloway 1963, Watt 1975). The extent of wing atrophy or loss in the New Zealand Hymenoptera has not been documented precisely, but the phenomenon appears to be common in the Ceraphronoidea, Scelionidae, and Diapriidae and in some chalcidoid, platygastrid, proctotrupid, and bethyloid groups, and, of course, in the Formicidae (Naumann & Early, unpublished; Dessart 1981; Valentine &. Walker 1983). Wing reduction occurs in 89% of New Zealand ambositrine species. Other structural changes accompanying wing reduction and various biological aspects of wing polymorphism and wing reduction in Ambositrinae have been reviewed by Naumann (1982), and some biogeographical aspects are treated below.