Megalyroidea is 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 superfamily of wasps that includes a single family, Megalyridae, with eight extant genera (plus around a dozen extinct ones) and 49 described species. Modern megalyrids are found primarily in the southern hemisphere, though fossils have only been found in the northern hemisphere. The most abundant and species-rich megalyrid fauna is in Australia. Another peak of diversity appears to be in the

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

forests of Madagascar, but most of these species are still undescribed. Historically, there has been much confusion about the definition of this family. Species now placed in Megalyridae have in the past been classified into as many as six other families (

Braconidae The Braconidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. After the closely related Ichneumonidae, braconids make up the second-largest family in the order Hymenoptera, with about 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. One analysis ...

, Evaniidae,

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 are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25 ...

, and

Stephanidae The Stephanidae, sometimes called crown wasps, are a family (biology), family of parasitoid wasps. They are the only living members of the superfamily Stephanoidea. Stephanidae has at least 345 living species in 11 genera. The family is considere ...

, as well as Dinapsidae and Maimetshidae, with Dinapsidae now considered to be within the Megalyridae. Maimetshidae is no longer considered closely related to Megalyridae, and has been included in Trigonaloidea with Trigonalidae. The oldest fossils confidently identifiable as megalyrids date to the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

. The best defining feature, unique to the family, is the mesothoracic spiracle has moved, and is actually located in the upper corner of the pronotum, though this is a fairly obscure feature to see. Perhaps the most useful visible character is that the base of the antenna fits into a wide, concave groove below the eye, though a few other wasp families exhibit this trait. Females of '' Megalyra'' have ovipositors ranging from five to eight times their body length, but this is not true of the other genera. The largest known megalyrid is the female of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n '' Megalyra shuckardi'', with a body length of and

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 ...

length of . The smallest known megalyrid is the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian '' Cryptalyra plaumanni'', with a body length of and ovipositor long. Megalyrid wasps are thought to be idiobiont endoparasitoids of concealed insect larvae. One Australian species, '' Megalyra troglodytes'', attacks the larvae of '' Arpactophilus mimi'', a mud-nesting crabronid wasp. Oviposition habits of Megalyridae are regarded as quite primitive, with field observations suggesting they simply poke their ovipositors into pre-existing cavities, holes, or cracks, rather than drilling into the substrate as in other

Apocrita Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. It includes wasps, bees, and ants, and consists of many families. It contains the most advanced hymenopterans and is distinguished from Symphyta by the narrow "waist" ( petiole) formed ...

Genera

Taxonomy following Brazidec et al. 2024. Extant genera * '' Carminator'' (9 species) East Asia, Southeast Asia, New Guinea * '' Cryptalyra'' (6 species) Northern South America * '' Dinapsis'' (19 species) Africa, Madagascar * '' Ettchellsia'' (7 species) Southeast Asia * '' Megalyra'' (27 living + 1 fossil species) Australia, New Guinea, Southeast Asia (extant)

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

, Eocene * '' Megalyridea'' (1 species) South Africa * '' Neodinapsis (''1 species) Chile * ''

Rigel Rigel is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. It has the Bayer designation β Orionis, which is Latinized to Beta Orionis and abbreviated Beta Ori or β Ori. Rigel is the brightest and most massive componentand ...

'' (1 species) Chile Extinct genera * †'' Cretodinapsis'' (1 species) Rasnitsyn, 1977 Azerbaijan amber, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) * †'' Cretolyra'' (2 species) Brazidec et al. 2024

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, mid Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) * †'' Genkyhag'' (1 species)Brazidec et al. 2024 Burmese amber, Myanmar, mid Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) * †'' Kamyristi'' (2 species) Brazidec et al. 2024 Taimyr amber, Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian,

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...

) * †'' Megacoxa'' (3 species) Brazidec et al. 2024 Burmese amber, Myanmar, mid Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) * †'' Megalava'' (1 species) Perrichot 2009 Spanish amber, Early Cretaceous (

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 ...

) * †'' Megallica'' (1 species) Perrichot, 2009 Charentese amber, France, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) * †'' Megazar'' (1 species) Perrichot 2009 Charentese amber, Late Cretaceous (

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 ...

) * †'' Prodinapsis'' (7 species) Brues 1923

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, Bitterfeld amber, Germany, Rovno amber, Ukraine,

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

* †'' Valaa'' (1 species) Perrichot 2009 Spanish amber, Early Cretaceous (Albian)

References

Cited texts

* Rasnitsyn, A.P. & Brothers, D.J. 2009. New genera and species of Maimetshidae (Hymenoptera: Stephanoidea s.l.) from the Turonian of Botswana, with comments on the status of the family. '' African Invertebrates'' 50 (1): 191–20
Abstract
https://web.archive.org/web/20110718201933/http://fossilinsects.net/pdfs/rasnitsyn_brothers_2009_AfrInv_50_1_MaimetshidaeTuronianOrapa_LR.pdf PDF]

External links

Tree of Life Megalyridae
{{Authority control Parasitica Apocrita families