The Ceraphronidae, commonly known as ceraphronids or ceraphronid wasps, are a small
hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic.
Females typi ...
n family with 14
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
and some 360 known
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
, though a great many species are still undescribed. It is a poorly known group as a whole, though most are believed to be
parasitoid
In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...
s (especially of
flies
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...
), and a few
hyperparasitoids. Many are found in the soil, and of these, a number are wingless.
The family is distinguished from the closely related
Megaspilidae by having a very small stigma in the wing, a very broad
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 ...
l
petiole, and a single median groove in the
mesoscutum.
The taxon was erected by
Alexander Henry Haliday
Alexander Henry Haliday (1806–1870, also known as Enrico Alessandro Haliday, Alexis Heinrich Haliday, or simply Haliday) was an Ireland, Irish entomologist. He is primarily known for his work on Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Thysanoptera, but wor ...
in 1833.
Genera
This family contains the following genera:
* ''
Abacoceraphron''
* ''
Aphanogmus''
* ''
Ceraphron''
* ''
Cyoceraphron''
* ''
Donadiola''
* ''
Ecitonetes''
* ''
Elysoceraphron''
* ''
Gnathoceraphron''
* ''
Homaloceraphron''
* ''
Kenitoceraphron''
* ''
Microceraphron''
* ''
Pteroceraphron''
* ''
Retasus''
* ''
Synarsis''
References
*Dessart, P., 1965 Contribution à l'étudendes Hyménoptères Proctotrupoidea.(VI)Les Ceraphroninae et quelques Megaspilinae(Ceraphronidae)du Musée Civique d'Histoire Naturelles de Gênes. ''Bulletin et Annales de la Société Royale Entomologique de Belgique'':101:105-192.
*Watson, L., and Dallwitz M.J., 2003. ''British insects: the families of Hymenoptera''.Version: 16 July 201
External links
Cedar Creek Images of pinned specimens.
Images at Bug Guide
Ceraphronoidea
Taxa named by Alexander Henry Haliday
Apocrita families
{{Apocrita-stub