Distatrix Mason 1981

Distatrix has often been confused with the superficially similar but much more common and diverse genus Glyptapanteles. Mason (1981) erected Distatrix to include members of Nixon’s (1965) primarily tropical formosus
–group of Apanteles Förster, and suggested (based on the shared miniaturization of the ovipositor sheath setae) that the genus might be related to another of his newly erected genera, Rasivalva Mason. More recent combined analyses of molecular and morphological data (Whitfield et al. 2002) suggest that its closest relative is more likely to be Venanides Mason, which it more closely resembles in other body features (Grinter et al. 2009).

Distatrix, as defined by Mason (1981) possesses, but is not completely limited by, the following characters: absence of the upper pronotal groove; vannal lobe of the hindwing subapically straight to concave, with reduced to nearly absent fringe of hairs; ovipositor sheaths reduced, with minute apical hairs, and the more or less triangular form of the second metasomal tergum. In some species the compound eyes of the female are conspicuously enlarged, so that most of the head is covered by eye (Grinter et al. 2009). This feature, along with the largely xanthic coloration, suggests that these species are nocturnally active (Whitfield & Saccia 1996).

Distatrix has often been confused with the superficially similar but much more common and diverse genus Glyptapanteles. Mason (1981) erected Distatrix to include members of Nixon’s (1965) primarily tropical formosus
–group of Apanteles Förster, and suggested (based on the shared miniaturization of the ovipositor sheath setae) that the genus might be related to another of his newly erected genera, Rasivalva Mason. More recent combined analyses of molecular and morphological data (Whitfield et al. 2002) suggest that its closest relative is more likely to be Venanides Mason, which it more closely resembles in other body features (Grinter et al. 2009).

Distatrix, as defined by Mason (1981) possesses, but is not completely limited by, the following characters: absence of the upper pronotal groove; vannal lobe of the hindwing subapically straight to concave, with reduced to nearly absent fringe of hairs; ovipositor sheaths reduced, with minute apical hairs, and the more or less triangular form of the second metasomal tergum. In some species the compound eyes of the female are conspicuously enlarged, so that most of the head is covered by eye (Grinter et al. 2009). This feature, along with the largely xanthic coloration, suggests that these species are nocturnally active (Whitfield & Saccia 1996).