Genus of wasps
Shireplitis is a genus of braconid wasps native to New Zealand. Individuals range from 1.8 to 2.4 mm in body length. Five of the six known species occur on South Island, and one on the North Island. The genus name derives from the Shire, fictional home of the hobbits in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and five species are named after hobbits, with one species named after Tolkien himself.
Description.
Individuals are brown to black in color, and range from 1.8 to 2.4 mm in body length, with distinctly narrow fore wings. Species of "Shireplitis" differ from related genera in the subfamily Microgastrinae in having relatively shorter and stouter legs, shorter antennal segments in females, and sculpturing of the propodeum (first abdominal segment), and in the structure of the hypopygium, a modified 9th abdominal segment.
References.
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