Oodera is the sole genus in the monotypic family Ooderidae. Almost all species are parasatoids of xylophagous beetles in the families Buprestidae and Curculionidae, however much of their biology is unknown. They are rarely collected especially by common methods used by Chalcidoidea specialists such as malaise traps, sweep nets, and pan traps. Species occur in the warm areas of the Palaeartic, Afrotropical, and Indomalayan regions. Only one species Oodera formosa has been introduced into the new world. Species are one of the most easily distinguished chacloids due to their distinctive morphology.
Morphology The fore femora of Oodera species is greatly enlarged and covered in spines and spinelike setae. The front legs resembling raptorial legs in addition to a prolonged pronotum give species a mantis-like habitus, however as with many other characteristics the function of this feature is unknown. The mesonotal structure is unique in that the mesoscutum and mesoscutellar-axillar complex are fused, this along with the axilla being highly developed cause transcutal articulation to be absent. Members in this genus are relatively large ranging in size from 3.6-17mm.
Taxonomy Oodera was originally coined in 1874 as a genus in Eupelmidae. In 1958 it was transferred to Pteromalidae and placed in the monotypic tribe Ooderini. In 2022 it was elevated to the family rank along with many other genera in the Pteromalidae family.
Currently 25 species are recognized in Oodera. This excludes Oodera obscura and Oodera rufimana, which are considered nomina dubia because they lack a type species and the original descriptions are insufficient making it impossible to review their taxonomic placement.
Oodera Ahoma (Mani & Kaul, 1973) Oodera arabica Gadallah & Soliman, 2019 Oodera circularicollis Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera felix Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera fidelis Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera florea Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera formosa (Giraud, 1863) Oodera gracilis Westwood, 1874 Oodera heikewernerae Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera hoggarensis Hedqvist, 1967 Oodera leibnizi Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera longicollis (Cameron, 1903) Oodera madegassa Boucek, 1908 Oodera magnifica (Risbec, 1951) Oodera mkomaziensis Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera namibiensis Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera niehuisorum Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera omanensis Soliman & Gadallah, 2019 Oodera pumilae Yang, 1996 Oodera punctulata Rahmani & Rakhshani, 2023 Oodera rapuzzii Soliman & Gadallah, 2019 Oodera regiae Yang, 1996 Oodera similis Soliman & Gadallah, 2019 Oodera srilankiensis Werner & Peters, 2018 Oodera tenuicollis (Walker, 1872)
References