The Leucospidae (sometimes incorrectly spelled Leucospididae) are a specialized group of

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s within the superfamily

Chalcidoidea Chalcid wasps (, , for their metallic colour) are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, m ...

, that are

ectoparasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitism ...

s of aculeate wasps or

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s. They are typically mimics of bees or stinging wasps, often black with yellow, red, or white markings, sometimes metallic, with a robust

mesosoma The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs, and, in the case of winged insects, the wings. Wasps, bees and a ...

and very strong sculpturing. The hind

femora The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The top of the femur fits in ...

are often greatly enlarged, with a row of teeth or serrations along the lower margin as in

Chalcididae The Chalcididae are a moderate-sized family within the Chalcidoidea, composed mostly of parasitoids and a few hyperparasitoids. The family is apparently polyphyletic, though the different subfamilies may each be monophyletic, and some may be e ...

. The wing has a longitudinal fold. The female

ovipositor The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typica ...

is sometimes short, but if not, it is recurved and lies along the dorsal side of the

metasoma The metasoma is the posterior part of the body, or tagma (biology), tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the mesosoma. In insects, it contains most of the digestive tract, respiratory sy ...

, a unique feature. The males are also unusual, in the fusion of many of the metasomal segments to form a capsule-like "

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

". Leucospidae are external parasitoids of larval hymenoptera, mostly solitary bees but some solitary wasps, and there is a case of a hyperparasitoid. The eggs are laid inside the nests of the host and upon hatching, they feed on the host larva. Usually only a single adult parasite emerges from a single host brood cell. ''Leucospis pinna'', which parasitizes the

orchid bee The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior. Description, distribution, and behavior ...

Eulaema meriana ''Eulaema meriana'' is a large-bodied bee species in the tribe Euglossini, otherwise known as the orchid bees. The species is a Bee#Solitary and communal bees, solitary bee and is native to tropical Central and South America. The male collects fr ...

'', is known to have multiple adults emerging from a single brood cell of the host. ''Leucopsis dorsigera'' is considered a

hyperparasite A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two ot ...

, as it is a parasite of ''

Xorides ''Xorides'' is a genus of ichneumon wasps in the family Ichneumonidae The Ichneumonidae, also known as ichneumon wasps, ichneumonid wasps, ichneumonids, or Darwin wasps, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They ...

'' sp. which in turn is a parasitoid of a cerambycid beetle larva boring inside the stems of apricots. Leucospids are rarely encountered except in areas where their hosts are abundant; in the United States, the best-known species is ''

Leucospis affinis ''Leucospis affinis'' is a species of parasitic wasp of megachilid bees. The species ''Ancistrocerus antilope ''Ancistrocerus antilope'' is a species of wasp of the family Vespidae. Description This species is similar to the rarer '' A. spin ...

'', which parasitizes

leafcutter bee The genus ''Megachile'' is a cosmopolitan group of solitary bees, often called leafcutter bees or leafcutting bees; it also includes the resin bees and mortar bees. While other genera within the family Megachilidae may chew leaves or petals in ...

s. There are four genera with about 130 species which are known, of which nearly 44 are from the New World, mostly from the Neotropics. A fossil species ''Leucospis glaesaria'' has been described from Early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

amber from the Dominican Republic. The Leucospidae have traditionally been suggested as a sister group of the Chalcididae, based on morphology, but a 2011 phylogenetic analysis found that the Leucospidae were a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

lineage but with uncertain placement within the Chalcidoidea and not closely related to the Chalcididae. The study found that the genus ''Oodera'' (

Pteromalidae The Pteromalidae are a large family of wasps, the majority being parasitoids of other insects. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and many are important as biological control agents. The oldest known fossil is known fr ...

: Cleonyminae) was close to the Leucospidae, a result confirmed by a 2018 study.

References

External links

Universal Chalcidoidea Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1933775 Chalcidoidea Apocrita families