Aulacus striatus

Description

Aulacus striatus is a hymenoptera in the family Aulacidae. The scientific name of the species was first validly published in 1807 by Jurine. Aulacus is a genus of aulacids, ensigns, and gasteruptiids in the family Aulacidae. There are 77 species of Aulacus. This genus was originally described in 1807 by Louis Jurine. It it currently one of two extant genera within the family Aulacidae along with its sister genus, Pristaulacus. As presently defined, the genus Aulacus has been noted by Turrisi et al. in 2009 as not representing a monophyletic group, instead being a paraphyletic assemblage of species with respect to Pristaulacus. Their research also concluded the need for further studies to split the genus into several monophyletic genera. Aulacus are generally small auladic wasps. The head lacks an occipital carina, and the tarsal claws are simple. The forewing has vein 2r-m present in contrast to the genus Pristaulacus, which lacks this vein. The genus Aulacus has a nearly worldwide distribution apart from the Afrotropics and Antarctica. While little is known about the biology of the genus as a whole, many species are known to be koinobiont parasitoids of beetles or wood wasps.