Antenna with a radicle two to four times longer than its width and three or four flagellomeres; the club is fused and exceeds the length of the preceding flagellomeres. The protibial spur is short and straight. All legs have four tarsomeres. Scutellum, axilla, and lateral lobe of mesoscutum appear fused. Mesosoma is broadly attached to metasoma. The marginal vein of the hind wing is highly curved. The body is pale yellowish or yellowish brown.[2]
Cales noacki; lateral view of mesosoma, showing the fused appearance of the lateral lobe of the mesoscutum (llm), the axilla (ax), and the scutellum
Antenna, fore wing, and middle leg of a female Cales noacki
Species
Cales is the only genus in the family.[2] There are two species groups:
C. noacki group of the Neotropics (and introduced into North America, the Mediterranean, Africa and Atlantic Ocean islands).[4]
^Howard, L.O. (1907) New genera and species of Aphelinidae, with a revised table of genera. Technical Series, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, 12, 69–88. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12206772
^Mottern, J. L., & Heraty, J. M. (2014). Revision of the Cales noacki species complex (H ymenoptera, C halcidoidea, A phelinidae). Systematic Entomology, 39(2), 354-379. DOIPDF
^Polaszek, A., Shih, Y. T., & Ward, S. E. (2015). A new species of Cales (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) parasitizing Bemisia pongamiae (Takahashi)(Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in Taiwan, with a key to world species of the Cales spenceri-group. Biodiversity Data Journal 3, e6352. DOI