Eupelmus Dalman, 1820

Li, Zixuan, Xu, Shirui, Wang, Zongying, Chen, Pengfei, Wu, Jianqin & Peng, Lingfei, 2025, Species of Eupelmidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from the Fujian Tianbaoyan National Nature Reserve, China, Zootaxa 5665 (3), pp. 349-373 : 361

4. Eupelmus Dalman, 1820

Eupelmus is the largest genus within the family Eupelmidae , comprising 339 species and representing 34% of the entire family. Twenty species had been recorded previously from China ( Masi 1927; Liao et al. 1987; Yang 1996; Yang et al. 2015; Gibson & Fusu 2016; Fusu 2017); in this study, we identified five species from the reserve, one of which is a new record for China.

Female characteristics. Body colour variable but usually dark with green, blue, or purple metallic lusters, with the mesosoma and gaster sometimes yellow or light brown in colour. The head is slightly wider than its height in frontal view and in lateral view is typically lenticular. The antennae are usually dark, though rarely the flagellum has some light-coloured segments; the scape is elongate or sometimes lamellate and compressed. The mandibles are tridentate. The pronotum is either divided medially or has a light-coloured line. The mesoscutum and mesoscutellar-axillar complex exhibit structural variation that is often correlated with females being brachypterous or macropterous. The fore wing is usually hyaline and almost always has a linea calva on the disc. The mesotibia lacks an apical groove and may or may not have apical pegs; the mesotarsomeres have or lack mesotarsal pegs but when lacking pegs usually are densely setose ventrally. The sixth gastral tergite usually is medially divided and often concealed beneath the fifth gastral tergite. The posterior margin of the syntergum is deeply emarginate.

Remarks. China spans both the Palaearctic and Oriental regions. However, Eupelmus species in the Oriental region currently lack a taxonomic revision, which causes significant challenges for research on Eupelmus in China. At present, we are conducting continuous research, and work on an article about Chinese Eupelmus is in progress.