The flat wasp family Bethylidae Haliday lacks global scale literature on their alpha taxonomy. The only world revision for the family was by Kieffer in 1914 and is fully out of date and somewhat useless; the only catalog for the family was made by Gordh & Móczár in 1990 and does not include hundreds of changes made since then; and the most recent world genera keys were proposed by Terayama in 2003, but do not reflect the current knowledge we have for the family. Given this scenario, we present a global guide of Bethylidae with diagnoses, taxonomic evaluation, keys, and a checklist of all their extant genera and subfamilies. We visited the main collections around the world, analyzed about 2,000 holotypes, and examined at least 400,000 specimens. To eliminate homonymies, we add the prefix “neo” to the original specific epithet when possible. The family is now composed by 2,920 species allocated in 96 genera distributed in eight subfamilies: Bethylinae, Pristocerinae, Epyrinae, Mesitiinae, Scleroderminae, Lancepyrinae, Holopsenellinae and Protopristocerinae. The latter three are extinct. One new family-group synonym is proposed: Fushunochrysidae Hong syn. nov. of Bethylidae. Two incertae sedis genera are allocated into Bethylinae: Cretobethylellus Rasnytsyn and Omaloderus Walker. One new genus-group synonym is revalidated: Pristepyris Kieffer stat. rev. from Acrepyris Kieffer. Sixteen new genus-group synonyms are proposed: Fushunochrysites Hong syn. nov. and Sinibethylus Hong syn. nov. of Eupsenella Westwood; Messoria Meunier syn. nov. of Goniozus Förster; Acrepyris Kieffer syn. nov. of Pristepyris Kieffer; Apristocera Kieffer syn. nov. and Parapristocera Brues syn. nov. of Pristocera Klug; Usakosia Kieffer syn. nov. of Prosapenesia Kieffer; Isobrachium Förster syn. nov., Leptepyris Kieffer syn. nov., Neodisepyris Kurian syn. nov., Rhabdepyris Kieffer syn. nov. of Epyris Westwood; Codorcas Nagy syn. nov., Hamusmus Argaman syn. nov. and Ukayakos Argaman syn. nov. of Heterocoelia Dahlbom; Domonkos Argaman syn. nov. of Incertosulcus Móczár; Ateleopterus Förster syn. nov. of Sclerodermus Latreille. One new genus-group synonym is revalidated: Topcobius Nagy syn. rev. of Sulcomesitius Móczár. One new genus-group revalidation is proposed: Incertosulcus Móczár stat. rev. from Anaylax Móczár. The following species-group nomenclatural acts are established: 153 new or revalidated combinations, 16 new names to avoid secondary homonyms, 11 species with revalidated status, and one synonym. Keys to the subfamilies and genera are provided. The text is supported by 599 illustrations organized onto 92 plates.

Sclerodermini are a small tribe of parasitoid wasps, with 13 genera worldwide. Its phylogeny has already been investigated, but doubts still exist about the taxonomic classification of the tribe and its genera. The phylogenetic relationships of Sclerodermini are inferred from a cladistic analysis based on 72 female characters. The dataset was analyzed under equal weights parsimony and implied weighting. To assess the monophyly of the Sclerodermini, representatives of Cephalonomiini were also included in the taxon sample. The Cephalonomiini were retrieved as monophyletic and nested well within Sclerodermini, indicating the paraphyly of the latter tribe. The genus Discleroderma Kieffer, 1904 is polyphyletic, and we transfer Discleroderma yakushimensis Terayama, 1999 and D. undulatum Krombein, 1996 to Sclerodermus Latreille, 1809. Lepidosternopsis sulcata Azevedo, 1999 and L. brasiliensis (Evans, 1973) do not belong to Lepidosternopsis Ogloblin, 1953; we propose to reinstate the genus Nothepyris Evans, 1973 to accommodate these two species. The genus Glenosema Kieffer, 1905 is polyphyletic and we transfer Glenosema viduatus (Turner, 1928) to Epyris Westwood, 1832. In addition, Discleroderma yemenensis Lanes & Azevedo sp. n., Discleroderma indiensis Lanes & Azevedo sp. n., Glenosema denteata Lanes & Azevedo sp. n., Glenosema elevata Lanes & Azevedo sp. n., Platepyris sepalus Lanes & Azevedo gen. n., sp. n., and Tuberepyris basibrevis Lanes & Azevedo gen. n., sp. n. are described and illustrated.

Epyrini (Epyrinae) are the largest and morphologically most diverse group within Bethylidae. Evans' conception of Epyrini induces misclassification of several taxa and their diagnostic features, such as median lobe of clypeus projected, and fovea in lateroposterior angle of propodeal disc, are insufficient to place species in the tribe. No previous comprehensive cladistic study has recovered Epyrini as a clade, and no synapomorphies are reported for the tribe, suggesting that the group is artificial. We infer a phylogeny based on 391 informative morphological characters for 42 terminal taxa (31 ingroup, 11 outgroup). Monophyly of Epyrini is supported by a petiole with fused root and body as an autapomorphy. Anisepyris Kieffer, Laelius Ashmead, Holepyris Kieffer, Formosiepyris Terayama, Disepyris Kieffer, Bakeriella Kieffer and Trachepyris Kieffer were retrieved as monophyletic. Epyris Westwood and Chlorepyris Kieffer are paraphyletic. The addition of new characters was essential to define Epyrini, and the ventral region of the mesosoma, petiole and male genitalia may help to better understand genera and species limits. All resulting trees indicate that Epyrinae are polyphyletic. Tribes Epyrini and Sclerodermini are revalidated to subfamily status.

Massimo (2017) This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Cerambycidae). Sclerodermus brevicornis attacked all three species, but offspring only developed to maturity on medium and large sized host larvae. Host species influenced the duration of parasitoid development and the number of offspring maturing, both were greatest on A. glabripennis, with up to 373 adult parasitoids emerging from a single host. The sex ratios of S. brevicornis broods were strongly female biased (ca. 9% males). We conclude that S. brevicornis has the potential to be efficiently mass-reared and actively deployed in the biological control of invasive longhorn beetles. Further progress should be encouraged by the successful use of other species of Sclerodermus against beetle pests in China.

Rhabdepyris (Epyrinae) is a cosmopolitan genus comprised of 132 species. No morphological synapomorphies are known for the genus and the genus is characterized by a combination of characters common to most Epyrini. Herein, we performed a cladistic analysis based on morphological characters to test the monophyly of Rhabdepyris. The three known subgenera of Rhabdepyris (Chlorepyris, Rhabdepyris s. str., and Trichotepyris) and other Epyrini (Anisepyris, Bakeriella, Calyozina, Epyris, Laelius, Trachepyris) were included in the ingroup. The cladistic analysis of 48 taxa (46 ingroup species and two outgroup species) and 81 structural characters yielded 72 cladograms under equal weights, and one under successive weighting. Rhabdepyris was found to be polyphyletic; the subgenus Trichotepyris was closely related to Anisepyris whereas Rhabdepyris str. s. was closely related to Laelius. The subgenus Chlorepyris is paraphyletic. Morphological characters are discussed in the light of the new phylogeny; novel characters are proposed and illustrated, and a new classification of Rhabdepyris and Epyrini is proposed. The following nomenclatural changes are proposed: Trichotepyris is synonymized under Anisepyris (syn. n.); Chlorepyris is recognized as a separated genus (stat. rev.); all 12 American species of the subgenus Rhabdepyris are transferred to Laelius; 22 species of Trichotepyris are transferred to Anisepyris; 58 species are transferred to Chlorepyris. A remaining total of 40 species are now recognized in Rhabdepyris. The holotype of Rhabdepyris, R. myrmecophilus Kieffer, the type species of Rhabdepyris, is redescribed.