Astichus
Creators: name: Neser, Ottilie C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Eulophidae
Astichus

description: Key to the South African species of Astichus   
 1. Both sexes: scape expanded and flattened apically (Figs 11–14), forewing with angle between stigmal and postmarginal veins 60º; marginal vein more than twice as long as submarginal (Figs 6, 7). Female: scape more or less same length as club (Figs 11, 13). Male: funicular segments having peduncles longer than nodes, and funicle and club segments with whorls of very long setae (Figs 12, 14)................................................................................... 2   
 - Both sexes: scape slender and longer than club (Figs 9, 10, 15, 16); forewing with angle between stigmal and postmarginal veins 30º–45º; marginal vein less than twice as long as submarginal (Figs 5, 8). Female: scape longer than club (Figs 9, 15). Male: funicular segments having peduncles shorter than nodes, and setae on funicle segments shorter, about same length as segment plus peduncle (Figs 10, 16)...................................................................... 3   
 2. Both sexes: face with white crossband only above scrobes; antenna with scape having pale base (Figs 11, 12); triangle between stigmal and postmarginal veins dark (Fig. 6). Female: funicle with segments subquadrate and only F3 pale (Fig. 11); forewing with three crossbands, and disc with faint hairlines (Fig. 6); gaster with posterior margin of T1–3 incised. Male: F1 without peduncle (Fig. 12)......................................................................... A. silvani sp. n.   
 - Both sexes: face with white band across full width; antenna with scape entirely dark (Figs 13, 14); forewing with distinctive   
 mottled pattern, triangle between stigmal and postmarginal veins hyaline and disc without hairlines (Fig. 7). Female: funicle segments beadlike and F1 and F4 pale (Fig. 13); gaster with only posterior margin of T1 incised. Male: F1 with peduncle (Fig. 14).................................................................................... A. gracilis sp. n. 3. Both sexes: scape pale at apex and base (Figs 9, 10); angle between stigmal and postmarginal veins 45º, and postmarginal vein slightly shorter than stigmal (Fig. 5). Female: funicle with F3 and F4 pale (Fig. 9); forewing with irregular pawprint-like pattern (Fig. 5); propodeum bowtie-shaped, with anterior and posterior margins meeting medially without a median carina............................................................................................ A. micans sp. n.   
 - Both sexes: scape pale only at base (Figs 15, 16); angle between stigmal and postmarginal veins 30º and postmarginal vein noticeably shorter than stigmal (Fig. 8). Female: funicle with only F3 pale (Fig. 15); forewing with spindle-shaped pattern in centre (Fig. 8); propodeum fairly short, with anterior and posterior margins not meeting medially, there with a few weak, uneven blackish longitudinal ridges separating the margins........................................ A. naiadis sp. n.
description: Published as part of Neser, Ottilie C., 2012, The first record of Astichus Förster (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Entiinae), parasitoids of Ciidae (Coleoptera) in bracket fungi, from the Afrotropical Region and the description of four new species from South Africa, pp. 49-64 in Zootaxa 3183 on pages 52-53, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.279982