The Tetracampidae are a small family of

parasitic wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps ( Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causi ...

s in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. They are

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 of

phytophagous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet (nutrition), diet. These more broadly also encompass an ...

insects, primarily

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 ...

. The 44 species in 15 genera are almost entirely absent from the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. The biology of most species of Tetracampidae is little studied. Most of those whose hosts are known are associated with insects that mine in plants. European species of one genus, '' Dipriocampe'', are endoparasitoids of the eggs of diprionid sawflies, and the British species of '' Foersterella'' are endoparasitoids of the eggs of '' Cassida'' spp. (Coleoptera, Cassididae). One species, '' Dipriocampe diprioni'', was introduced into Canada from Europe for the biological control of diprionid pests, but did not become established. In Africa and Madagascar, members of this family are egg parasitoids of beetles (Chrysomelidae) and sawflies (Diprionidae), or larval parasitoids of flies (Agromyzidae). Numerous fossil taxa are in this group, but their relationships to other chalcidoid families remain obscure.

References

External links

Universal Chalcidoidea Database
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Bugguide.net
Chalcidoidea Apocrita families Taxa named by Arnold Förster {{Chalcidoidea-stub