Nomenclature

Stephanodes Enock, 1909: 457. Type species: Stephanodes elegans Enock, by monotypy.
Eustephanodes Ogloblin, 1967: 194. Types species: Eustephanodes missionicus Ogloblin, by original designation. Synonymy by Yoshimoto (1990: 72).
Masonana Yoshimoto, 1990: 63. Type species: Masonana polynemoides Yoshimoto, original designation. Synonymy by Huber and Fidalgo (1997: 34).

Diagnosis

Stephanodes belongs to the Polynema group of genera and can be identified by the following combination of characters.

Female antennal scape with inner surface rough, rasp-like, with imbricate sculpture (Figs. 4, 5), funicle 6-segmented (Fig. 4)
Vertex with large, shallow depressions outside each ocellus
Prothoracic spiracle advanced, situated about halfway along lateral margin of pronotum
Tarsi 4-segmented
Petiole attached to gastral sternum (Figs. 1-3)
Ovipositor not or hardly exserted (Figs. 1-3)

Geographic Distribution

Cosmopolitan.

View Distribution of Stephanodes in India in a larger map

Hosts and habitat

Nabidae (Lin et al., 2007)

Species in India

1. reduvioli (Perkins, 1905) (original description); Huber and Fidalgo (1977) (Review); Subba Rao and Hayat (1983) (catalogue); Hayat (1992) (distribution and synonymization); Hayat and Anis (1999) (distribution); Rameshkumar et al., 2011 (distribution) (Distribution: Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttrakhand Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh).

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References

Hayat, M. 1992. Records of some Mymaridae from India, with notes (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Hexapoda, 4: 83-89.

Hayat, M. and Anis, SB. 1999. The Indian species of Polynema with notes on Stephanodes reduvioli (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). Oriental Insects, 33: 315-331.

Huber, JT and Fidalgo, P. 1997. Review of the genus Stephanodes (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 128: 27-63.

Perkins, RCL. 1905. Leaf hoppers and their natural enemies. Part VI. Mymaridae, Platygasteridae. Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, Experiment Station, Entomology Series Bulletin, 1: 187-205.

Rameshkumar, A., Manickavasagam, S., Jebanesan, A. and Rahman, S. J. 2011. Records of some Mymaridae and Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from Andhra Pradesh, India. The Journal of Research ANGRAU (In press).

Subba Rao, BR and Hayat, M. 1983. Key to the genera of Oriental Mymaridae, with a preliminary catalog (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 20: 125-150.

Ramesh Kumar et al., 2013