Phylogeny and reclassification of C ryptini ( H ymenoptera, I chneumonidae, C ryptinae), with implications for ichneumonid higher‐level classification

The first comprehensive phylogenetic study of the wasp tribe C ryptini ( H ymenoptera, I chneumonidae, C ryptinae) is presented, based on 109 morphological characters and molecular data from seven loci. The dataset includes 370 species, 308 of which are from C ryptini, covering 182 of its 250 genera. Results from parsimony and likelihood analyses are generally congruent. The topology has several implications for ichneumonid higher‐level classification. Previous definitions of the I chneumoniformes clade are supported, though newly including the M icroleptinae. The cryptine subtribe A teleutina is consistently recovered outside of the C ryptini clade and should be treated as a separate subfamily, A teleutinae stat.n. The tribe P hygadeuontini is shown to be polyphyletic: while most of the sampled taxa were recovered in a single clade, many of its members are more closely related to the I chneumoninae, A teleutinae or C ryptini. Pending a more detailed study, the group should be treated as a separate subfamily, P hygadeuontinae stat. rev . The former H emigastrini are recovered as largely monophyletic but with important exceptions. H emigaster B rullé is recovered as part of the P hygadeuontini and is transferred to that group. E chthrus G ravenhorst is consistently recovered as part of C ryptini, rendering A ptesini as the correct name for the tribe. The subfamily C ryptinae should be restricted to the tribes A ptesini and C ryptini. Within C ryptini, the results show little support for the current subtribal classification, with most subtribes recovered as polyphyletic. A number of relatively stable clades are identified and discussed, but the relationships among them are weakly supported. Most of these clades are morphologically heterogeneous and building a subtribal classification based on them would be ineffectual; they are therefore treated under the informal designation of genus groups. The results highlight the ubiquity of morphological homoplasy in C ryptini, and provide a framework from which to address further systematic and evolutionary questions on this hyperdiverse group of parasitic wasps.