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 typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or places that are otherwise inaccessible. This ovipositor is often modified into a stinger. The young develop through holometabolism —that is, they have a wormlike larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature.
Sawflies are wasp-like insects that are in the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay their eggs. The name is associated especially with the Tenthredinoidea, by far the largest superfamily in the suborder, with about 7,000 known species; in the entire suborder, there are 8,000 described species in more than 800 genera. Symphyta is paraphyletic, consisting of several basal groups within the order Hymenoptera, each one rooted inside the previous group, ending with the Apocrita which are not sawflies.
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 between the first two segments of the actual abdomen; the first abdominal segment is fused to the thorax, and is called the propodeum. Therefore, it is general practice, when discussing the body of an apocritan in a technical sense, to refer to the mesosoma and metasoma rather than the "thorax" and "abdomen", respectively. The evolution of a constricted waist was an important adaption for the parasitoid lifestyle of the ancestral apocritan, allowing more maneuverability of the female's ovipositor. The ovipositor either extends freely or is retracted, and may be developed into a stinger for both defense and paralyzing prey. Larvae are legless and blind, and either feed inside a host or in a nest cell provisioned by their mothers.
The superfamily Ichneumonoidea contains one extinct and three extant families, including the two largest families within Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae and Braconidae. The group is thought to contain as many as 100,000 species, many of which have not yet been described. Like other parasitoid wasps, they were long placed in the "Parasitica", variously considered as an infraorder or an unranked clade, now known to be paraphyletic.
Horntail or wood wasp are any of the 150 non-social species of the hymenopteran family Siricidae, a type of wood-eating sawfly. The common name "horntail" derives from the stout, spine-like structure at the end of the adult's abdomen, which is used to pierce the host's bark to allow the eggs to be inserted into the wood. A typical adult horntail is brown, blue, or black with yellow or red parts, and may often reach up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The pigeon horntail can grow up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, among the longest of all Hymenoptera.
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 causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.
The superfamily Chrysidoidea is a very large cosmopolitan group, all of which are parasitoids or cleptoparasites of other insects. There are three large, common families and four small, rare families. Most species are small, almost never exceeding 15 mm. This superfamily is traditionally considered to be the basal taxon within the Aculeata, and, as such, some species can sting, though the venom is harmless to humans.
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.
Anteon is the largest genus in the subfamily Anteoninae of the family Dryinidae, it occurs globally and there is a current total of 464 species described. The species in the genus Anteon are parasitoids of leafhoppers from the family Cicadellidae. The female wasps of the family Dryinidae almost always possess a chelate protarsus, as do females of species within Anteon. The chelae are used to capture and immobilise the host leafhopper to allow the wasp to oviposit and feed on it.
Megarhyssa nortoni, also known as Norton's giant ichneumonid wasp or the western giant ichneumonid wasp, is a species of large ichneumon wasp.
Dryinus rasnitsyni is an extinct species of wasp in the dryinid genus Dryinus. The species is solely known from the early Miocene, Burdigalian stage, Dominican amber deposits on the island of Hispaniola.
The Sclerogibbidae are a small family of aculeate wasps in the superfamily Chrysidoidea.
The Scolebythidae are a small family of aculeate wasps in the superfamily Chrysidoidea. These chrysidoid wasps are found in Africa, Australia, the Neotropics, north China, Thailand and Fiji. They are parasites on larvae of Cerambycidae and Ptinidae.
Anteoninae are a subfamily of Dryinidae. There are 4 extant and 2 fossil genera, including Anteon. Characteristics of the subfamily include a 'mask' covering the frontal region of the larvae, an absence of cephalic vesicles, body folded in a U-shape, always found on the thorax or between metathorax and abdomen of the host, never between abdominal segments, with the subfamilial characteristics of mature larvae being "very long setae on body and head, (2) labrum with few long sensory bristles and two sensory pits at about mid-length between anterior and posterior margin and with an apical row of sensory bristles inserted immediately under its apical margin, (3) epipharynx with two sensilla, (4) labium subtriangular with narrow subquadrate spinneret, (5) spiracles bulb-shaped, of approximately equal size in thorax and abdomen, and (6) cocoon in the ground, covered by soil particles."
Thaumatodryinus tuukkaraski is a wasp species in the family Dryinidae. This tiny insect is endemic to Kenya where it is only known from the Taita Hills. In 2015, this newly discovered species was named in direct reference to former Boston Bruins (NHL) goaltender, Tuukka Rask.
Gonatopus is a genus of solitary wasps of the family Dryinidae, sometimes called hump-backed pincer wasps. The wingless females have large scissor-like appendages at the tips of the front legs which are used to catch the leafhopper grubs which act as hosts to the larvae of these wasps. The larva consumes the leafhopper grub from the inside. An indication that a leafhopper is hosting a grub is a cyst of accumulated shed integuments which surround and protect the growing wasp larva.
Embolemidae is a family of small solitary parasitoid wasps with around 70 species in 2 genera distributed around the world. The few species whose biology is known are parasites on planthopper nymphs of the families Achilidae and Cixiidae. There is debate regarding the status of the genus named Ampulicomorpha by Ashmead in 1893, generally considered now to be a junior synonym of Embolemus (e.g.,), though some authorities dispute this (e.g.,)
Dryinus is a cosmopolitan genus of dryinid parasitic wasp. Over 242 species have been described worldwide. Numerous fossil species have been described from the Baltic, Dominican and Burmese ambers.
Jouault, Corentin; Rosse-Guillevic, Simon. "A new genus of praeaulacid wasp from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber (Myanmar)". Annales de Paléontologie. 109 (1): 102599. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2023.102599.
Megischus is a genus of crown-wasps in the parasitoid family Stephanidae. There are over 90 species globally distributed throughout the Neotropical, Palearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental, Australasian, and Oceanian zoogeographical regions.
