Ismaridae is a family of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s belonging to the order

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 ...

. About 50 species are known in this small relictual group; all the species for which the biology is known appear to be

hyperparasitoid 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 othe ...

s that parasitize Dryinidae (that attack

leafhopper Leafhopper is the common name for any species from the family (biology), family Cicadellidae: based on the type genus ''Cicadella''. These minute insects, colloquially known as hoppers, are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or ...

s). This lineage was formerly included in the family

Diapriidae The Diapriidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. These tiny insects have an average length of 2–4 mm and never exceed 8 mm. They typically attack larvae and pupae of a wide range of insects, especially flies. The about 2,300 described ...

, as the subfamily Ismarinae, but differ from diapriid wasps by lacking a facial projection from which the antenna arise, and characterized by various degrees of fusion 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 ...

l terga. The family historically included another genus, ''Szelenyioprioides'', but it was synonymized with the diapriid genus '' Spilomicrus''.V. Kolyada & V. Chemyreva (2016) Revision Of Species Of The Genus ''Ismarus'' Haliday, 1835 (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea: Ismaridae) Of The Russian Fauna. ''Far Eastern Entomologist'' 318: 1-19.

References

Parasitica Apocrita families {{Apocrita-stub