Anchored phylogenomics and a revised classification of the Planidial Larva Clade of Jewel Wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea)

Planidia are free-living, mobile first-instar larvae that are notable in their ability to transition on a single host between different larval stadia, and for completing their development on the host prepupa as ectoparasitoids, effectively acting as larval-pupal external koinobionts. Within Chalcidoidea, a mega-diverse superfamily of parasitoid wasps, taxa with a planidium form a monophyletic group, the Planidial-Larva-Clade (PLC), which has been comprised of three recognized groups: Eutrichosomatinae (Pteromalidae), Perilampidae (Chrysolampinae, Perilampinae, Philomidinae and the unplaced genus Jambiya), and Eucharitidae (Akapalinae, Eucharitinae, Gollumiellinae and Oraseminae). To clarify the classification and better understand the evolution of this clade, we conducted a phylogenomic study of the PLC using anchored hybrid enrichment data. The phylogenetic analyses support the backbone relationship of PLC as: (Eutrichosomatinae, ((Philomidinae, Chrysolampinae), (Perilampinae, Eucharit...