The Scolebythidae are a small family of aculeate wasps in the superfamily

Chrysidoidea The superfamily Chrysidoidea is a very large cosmopolitan group, all of which are parasitoids or cleptoparasites of other insects. There are three large, common families (Bethylidae, Chrysididae, and Dryinidae) and four small, rare families (Em ...

. These chrysidoid wasps are found in Africa, Australia, the Neotropics, north China, Thailand and Fiji. They are parasites on larvae of

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns (whose larvae are often referred to as roundheaded borers), are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by anten ...

and

Ptinidae Ptinidae is a family of beetles in the superfamily Bostrichoidea. There are at least 220 genera and 2,200 described species in Ptinidae worldwide. The family includes spider beetles and deathwatch beetle, as well as the Cigarette beetle, cigare ...

Overview

Scolebythidae wasps are

gregarious Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother was ...

ectoparasitoids of wood-boring beetle larvae. Females dig tunnels through the frass of wood-boring beetles using their

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

s. After reaching the host chamber of the beetle larva, frass is pulled into the chamber before stinging the larva. The female wasp feeds on the

hemolymph Hemolymph, or haemolymph, is a fluid, similar to the blood in invertebrates, that circulates in the inside of the arthropod's body, remaining in direct contact with the animal's tissues. It is composed of a fluid plasma in which hemolymph c ...

after biting the integument. This behaviour is probably necessary for egg laying.

Taxonomy

* Subfamily Pristapenesiinae Engel et al. 2013 ** †'' Boreobythus'' Engel and Grimaldi 2007

New Jersey amber New Jersey Amber, sometimes called Raritan amber, is amber found in the Raritan Formation, Raritan and Magothy Formations of the Mid-Atlantic states, Central Atlantic (Eastern) coast of the United States. It is dated to the Late Cretaceous, Turoni ...

Turonian The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...

** †'' Ectenobythus'' Engel et al. 2013 Spanish amber,

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

** †'' Eobythus'' Lacau et al. 2000

Oise amber Oise amber () is a type of amber found near the Oise river near Creil in northern France. Oise amber is around 53 million years old, dating to the Early Eocene (Ypresian). Oise amber is softer than Baltic amber, although Oise amber is older ...

, France,

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

** †'' Libanobythus'' Prentice and Poinar 1996

Lebanese amber Lebanese amber is fossilized resin found in Lebanon and its surroundings. It dates back approximately 130-125 million years to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. It formed on what was then the northern coast of Gondwana, believed to be a tropic ...

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 125.77 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma (Historically, this stage was placed at 129.4 million to approximately 125 million years ago) It is a ...

** †'' Mirabythus'' Cai et al. 2012

Yixian Formation The Yixian Formation (; formerly Romanization of Chinese, transcribed as Yihsien Formation or Yixiang Formation) is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous. I ...

, China,

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

** †'' Nadezhdabythus'' Zhang, Rasnitsyn, Olmi, Martynova & Perkovsky, 2020

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...

, Myanmar,

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

** †'' Necrobythus'' Engel et al. 2013

Canadian amber Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

** '' Pristapenesia'' Brues 1933 South America and Asia ** †'' Sphakelobythus'' Engel et al. 2013 Canadian amber, Campanian ** †'' Uliobythus'' Engel and Grimaldi 2007 Lebanese amber, Barremian ** †'' Zapenesia'' Engel and Grimaldi 2007 Lebanese amber, Barremian ** †'' Cursoribythus'' and †'' Siccibythus'' from the Burmese amber were originally assigned to this family, but have subsequently been assigned to the Falsiformicidae. * Subfamily Scolebythinae Evans 1963 ** '' Clystopsenella'' Kieffer 1911 ** '' Scolebythus'' Evans 1963 * '' Ycaploca'' Nagy, 1975, South Africa, Australia

References

Chrysidoidea Apocrita families {{Wasp-stub