Prospaltellinae Nikol’skaya’s and Yasnosh 1966: 143, 240. Type genus Prospaltella Ashmead, 1904 in Ashmead 1904b.
Encarsini Viggiani and Battaglia 1984: 169. Type genus Encarsia Förster, 1878. As a tribe of Coccophaginae.
Prospaltellini Nikol’skaya’s and Yasnosh 1966 in Shafee and Rizvi, 1978: 103, 106.
Diagnosis
Antenna usually with rounded apex (Figure 3A), some species with spindle-shaped antenna, if so, parasitoids of Diaspididae (Figure 3B); clava sometimes enlarged; axilla usually subquadrate (rarely subtriangular); tarsal formula either 5-5-5 or 5-4-5 (if antenna spindle-like, then submarginal vein with 2-setae and tarsal formula 5-5-5); syntergum undivided. Females are parasitoids of Aleyrodidae and Diaspididae (as well as several less common hosts). Males, where present, are autoparasitoids or heterotrophic parasitoids.
Comments
Prospaltellini stat. rev. contains a single genus (Encarsia) with 486 species (Kresslein et al. 2023). Most recently Encarsia was placed in the tribe Pteroptricini Ashmead, 1904. Pteroptricini was diagnosed by subquadrate axilla, a medially membranous pronotum, and a sparsely setose mid lobe of the mesoscutum. Contemporary phylogenetic analyses (Cruaud et al. 2024; Kresslein 2024) recover the monophyly of Encarsia, but a polyphyletic Pteroptricini. Thus, we revive Prospaltellini and restrict Pteroptricini to Pteroptrix Westwood, 1833, Bardylis Howard, 1907, Coccophagoides Girault, 1915, and Diaspiniphagus Silvestri, 1927. Presently, 34 species groups of Encarsia are recognised (Kresslein et al. 2023); however, ongoing analyses are examining the phylogenetic stability of these species groups and may result in the creation of additional genera within Prospaltellini.