| Chalcedectus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chalcedectus sp. | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Chalcedectidae Ashmead, 1904 |
| Genus: | Chalcedectus Walker, 1852 |
Chalcedectus is a genus ofchalcid wasps, previously classified as part of the subfamilyCleonyminae, in thepolyphyletic familyPteromalidae.[1] It is the only genus in themonotypic familyChalcedectidae. Most species areparasitoids of wood-boring beetles.
Astrid Cruaud and coworkers found thatChalcedectus falls in what they called the "weird clade",[2] but these wasps look very different from their closest relatives, thePelecinellidae. This, along with the long time since the divergence, supports the treatment of the genus as a separate family Chalcedectidae. In his 1852 paper on chalcid wasps,[3] whereFrancis Walker describedChalcedectus maculicornis (the type species) he stated: "This is one of the tropical forms whose characters are more compound or complicated than those of any genera which inhabit more temperate regions; and may be considered either as a connecting link between families, or as a common and governing centre, representing various remote groups, and associating them together. It comes between thePteromalidae and theEupelmidae, and is one of theCleonymidae, and is most allied toLycisca; but it has the head ofPerilampus, the thoracic sculpture of thePerilampidae and theEurytomidae, and the hind-legs of theLeucospidae and of theChalcidae."
The following species are recognised in the genusChalcedectus:
