Megaspilidae
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| Megaspilidae | |
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| Ceraphron halidayi illustration from British Entomology | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Suborder: | Apocrita |
| Superfamily: | Ceraphronoidea |
| Family: | Megaspilidae |
The Megaspilidae are a small hymenopteran family with 12 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 parasitoids (especially of sternorrhynchan Hemiptera), 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.
References[edit]
- Alekseev, V. N., 1978/1987 Family Megaspilidae (Megaspilids). In: G. S. Medvedev (ed.) 1987, Keys to the Insects of the European Part of the USSR. Vol. 3 Hymenoptera, Pt. 2. Akad. Nauk., Zool. Inst., Leningrad, SSSR. (trans. fr. Russian, Amerind. Publ. Co., Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi). 1341 p.
- Johnson, N.F. & Musetti, L., 2004. Catalog of systematic literature of the superfamily Ceraphronoidea Hymenoptera).Contributions of the American Entomological Institute 33: 1-149
- Watson, L., and Dallwitz M.J., 2003. British insects: the families of Hymenoptera.Version: 16 July 2011 [1]
External links[edit]
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