The Megaspilidae are a small
hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, 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 Par ...
n family with 13 genera in two subfamilies, and some 450 known species, with a great many species 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
sternorrhynchan
Hemiptera
Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...
), 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
Ceraphronidae by having a very large stigma in the wing, a relatively constricted
metasomal
petiole, and three grooves in the
mesoscutum.
The largest genus within Megaspilidae is ''
Dendrocerus''. The second largest genus is ''
Conostigmus
''Conostigmus'' is a genus of parasiotoid wasps belonging to the superfamily Ceraphronoidea. It is the second-largest genus within the family Megaspilidae (Johnson & Musetti 2004). The genus has a worldwide distribution with over 170 extant spec ...
''.
Genera
These 13 genera belong to the family Megaspilidae:
* ''
Aetholagynodes''
Dessart, 1994 i c g
* ''
Archisynarsis''
Szabó, 1973 i c g
* ''
Conostigmus
''Conostigmus'' is a genus of parasiotoid wasps belonging to the superfamily Ceraphronoidea. It is the second-largest genus within the family Megaspilidae (Johnson & Musetti 2004). The genus has a worldwide distribution with over 170 extant spec ...
''
Dahlbom, 1858 i c g b
* ''
Creator''
Alekseev, 1980 i c g
* ''
Dendrocerus''
Ratzeburg, 1852 i c g b
* ''
Holophleps''
Kozlov, 1966 i c g
* ''
Lagynodes''
Förster, 1841 i c g b
* ''
Megaspilus''
Westwood, 1829 i c g b
* ''
Platyceraphron''
Kieffer, 1906 i c g
* ''
Prolagynodes''
Alekseev & Rasnitsyn, 1981 i c g
* ''
Trassedia''
Cancemi, 1996 i c g
* ''
Trichosteresis
''Trichosteresis'' is a genus of Megaspilid wasps in the family Megaspilidae. There are at least three described species in ''Trichosteresis''.
Species
These three species belong to the genus ''Trichosteresis'':
* ''Trichosteresis floridanus
...
''
Förster, 1856 i c g b
* ''
Typhlolagynodes''
Dessart, 1981 i c g
Data sources: i = ITIS,[ c = Catalogue of Life,][ g = GBIF,][ b = Bugguide.net]
References
External links
Ceraphronoidea
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