Aphelinidae

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Aphelinidae
Temporal range: Priabonian–Recent
Aphelinus mali.jpg
Aphelinus mali
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Superfamily: Chalcidoidea
Family: Aphelinidae
Thomson, 1876
Subfamilies
Diversity
5 subfamilies
c.28 genera
c.1100 species
Eretmocerus sp. Aphelinidae 2022 05 19 3302.jpg
Eretmocerus sp.

The Aphelinidae are a moderate-sized family of tiny parasitic wasps, with about 1100 described species in some 28 genera. These minute insects are challenging to study, as they deteriorate rapidly after death unless extreme care is taken (e.g., preservation in ethanol), making identification of most museum specimens difficult. The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids on Hemiptera, though other hosts are attacked, and details of the life history can be variable (e.g., some attack eggs, some attack pupae, and others are hyperparasites). Males and females may have different hosts and different life histories .

Contents

They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and are extremely important as biological control agents. The oldest fossils are known from the Eocene aged Baltic Amber. [1]

They are difficult to separate from other Chalcidoidea except by subtle features of the wing venation and other difficult characters, and the family appears to be paraphyletic, so is likely to be split up in the future (e.g., the Calesinae may become a separate family). The families Azotidae and Eriaporidae were recently elevated in rank from subfamilies of Aphelinidae. [2] [3]

Genera

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fig wasp</span> Group of mostly pollinating insects whose larvae live in figs

Fig wasps are wasps of the superfamily Chalcidoidea which spend their larval stage inside figs. Some are pollinators but others simply feed off the plant. The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. While pollinating fig wasps are gall-makers, the remaining types either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps; reports of their being parasitoids are considered dubious.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalcid wasp</span> Superfamily of wasps

Chalcid wasps are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, meaning the vast majority have yet to be discovered and described. The name "chalcid" is often confused with the name "chalcidid", though the latter refers strictly to one constituent family, the Chalcididae, rather than the superfamily as a whole; accordingly, most recent publications (e.g.,) use the name "chalcidoid" when referring to members of the superfamily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agaonidae</span> Family of wasps

The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating and nonpollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of figs. The pollinating wasps are the mutualistic partners of the fig trees. The non-pollinating fig wasps are parasitoids. Extinct forms from the Eocene and Miocene are nearly identical to modern forms, suggesting that the niche has been stable over geologic time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torymidae</span> Family of wasps

Torymidae is a family of wasps in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Most species in this family are small with attractive metallic coloration, and females generally have long ovipositors. Many are parasitoids on gall-forming insects, and some are phytophagous (plant-eating) species, sometimes using the galls formed by other insects. Over 960 species in about 70 genera are found worldwide. They are best recognized in that they are one of the few groups of Chalcidoidea in which the cerci are visible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cephoidea</span> Superfamily of sawflies

Cephoidea is a small superfamily within the Symphyta, commonly referred to as stem sawflies, containing some 100 species in 10 genera in the living family, Cephidae, plus another 17 genera in the extinct family Sepulcidae. They first appeared around 212 million years ago in the Norian Age, and are diurnal. Most species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Eurasia. The larvae are stem borers in various plants, especially grasses, but sometimes other herbaceous plants, shrubs, or trees. A few are pests of cereal grains. They are exceptionally slender for symphytans, often resembling other types of wasps, and they are the only Symphyta which lack cenchri. They are sometimes postulated to be the sister taxon to the Apocrita, though the Orussidae are more commonly considered such.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eucharitidae</span> Family of wasps

The Eucharitidae are a family of parasitic wasps. Eucharitid wasps are members of the superfamily Chalcidoidea and consist of three subfamilies: Oraseminae, Eucharitinae, and Gollumiellinae. Most of the 55 genera and 417 species of Eucharitidae are members of the subfamilies Oraseminae and Eucharitinae, and are found in tropical regions of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trichogrammatidae</span> Family of wasps

The Trichogrammatidae are a family of small endoparasitoid wasps in the superfamily Chalcidoidea that include some of the smallest of all insects, with most species having adults less than 1 mm in length, with species of Megaphragma having an adult body length less than 300 μm. Over 840 species are placed in about 80 genera; their distribution is worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Encyrtidae</span> Family of wasps

Encyrtidae is a large family of parasitic wasps, with some 3710 described species in about 455 genera. The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids on Hemiptera, though other hosts are attacked, and details of the life history can be variable. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and are extremely important as biological control agents. They may also present as an ecological threat to the population of some species. For example, the endangered Papilio homerus butterfly is parasitized at a rate of 77%, making them the main contributor to egg mortality in this butterfly species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leucospidae</span> Group of wasps

The Leucospidae are a specialized group of wasps within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, that are ectoparasitoids of aculeate wasps or bees. They are typically mimics of bees or stinging wasps, often black with yellow, red, or white markings, sometimes metallic, with a robust mesosoma and very strong sculpturing. The hind femora are often greatly enlarged, with a row of teeth or serrations along the lower margin as in Chalcididae. The wing has a longitudinal fold. The female ovipositor is sometimes short, but if not, it is recurved and lies along the dorsal side of the metasoma, a unique feature. The males are also unusual, in the fusion of many of the metasomal segments to form a capsule-like "carapace".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurytomidae</span> Family of wasps

The Eurytomidae are a family within the superfamily Chalcidoidea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ormyridae</span> Family of wasp

The Ormyridae are a small family of parasitic wasps in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. They are either parasitoids or hyperparasitoids on gall-forming insects, primarily cynipid wasps and tephritid flies. The 120 or so species are cosmopolitan, except almost entirely absent from South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanidae</span> Family of wasps

The Stephanidae, sometimes called crown wasps, are a 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 considered cosmopolitan in distribution, with the highest species concentrations in subtropical and moderate climate zones. Stephanidae also contain four extinct genera described from both compression fossils and inclusions in amber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gracillariidae</span> Family of moths

Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Figitidae</span> Family of wasps

Figitidae is a family of parasitoid wasps. The full diversity of this wasp family is not yet known, but about 1400 species have been described to over 130 genera. For example, the largest subfamily, Eucoilinae, has over 1000 described species so far, but this is probably just a fraction of the total diversity. Figitid species occur throughout most of the world.

<i>Encarsia</i> Genus of wasps

Encarsia is a large genus of minute parasitic wasps of the family Aphelinidae. The genus is very diverse with currently about 400 described species and worldwide distribution. The number of existing species is expected to be several times higher because many species are still undescribed. Encarsia is a very complex genus, with specimens showing both inter- and intra-specific variations, making morphological classification difficult.

<i>Ablerus</i> Genus of chalcid wasps

Ablerus is the only genus in the family Azotidae. The genus was created by the American entomologist Leland Ossian Howard in 1894 for the species named in that year by William Harris Ashmead as Centrodora clisiocampae. The genus Azotus was synonymized with Ablerus by Alexandre Arsène Girault in 1913 and Hyatt synonymized Myocnemella with Ablerus in 1994, leaving Ablerus as the sole genus within the subfamily Azotinae. Azotinae was elevated in rank in 2013 to become the monotypic family Azotidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megastigmidae</span> Family of wasps

Megastigmidae is a family of chalcid wasps in the order Hymenoptera. There are about 12 genera and more than 170 described species in Megastigmidae. Megastigmidae was formerly considered a subfamily of the family Torymidae.

Eriaporinae is a subfamily of chalcid wasps in the order Hymenoptera, family Pirenidae. There are 2 genera and 6 described species in Eriaporinae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spalangiidae</span> Family of wasps

Spalangiidae is a family of chalcid wasps that are parasitoids of flies. The two subfamilies were moved from the family Pteromalidae to create this family in 2022. They are now known to be more closely related to the planidial clade of chalcid wasps than to the core Pteromalidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalcedectidae</span> Family of wasps

Chalcedectidae is a small family of chalcid wasps, previously classified as part of the subfamily Cleonyminae, in the polyphyletic family Pteromalidae. Most species are parasitoids of wood-boring beetles.

References

  1. Roger A. Burks; John M. Heraty; John D. Pinto; David Grimaldi (28 April 2015). "Small but not ephemeral: newly discovered species of Aphelinidae and Trichogrammatidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) from Eocene amber". Systematic Entomology . 40 (3): 592–605. doi:10.1111/SYEN.12124. ISSN   0307-6970. Wikidata   Q57277385.
  2. John M. Heraty; Roger A. Burks; Astrid Cruaud; et al. (4 January 2013). "A phylogenetic analysis of the megadiverse Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera)". Cladistics . 29 (5): 466–542. doi:10.1111/CLA.12006. ISSN   0748-3007. Wikidata   Q54530727.
  3. Petr Janšta; Astrid Cruaud; Gérard Delvare; Guénaëlle Genson; John Heraty; Barbora Křížková; Jean-Yves Rasplus (1 November 2017). "Torymidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) revised: molecular phylogeny, circumscription and reclassification of the family with discussion of its biogeography and evolution of life-history traits". Cladistics . 34 (6): 627–651. doi:10.1111/CLA.12228. ISSN   0748-3007. Wikidata   Q63378934.