The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25,000 species currently described. However, this likely represents less than a quarter of their true richness as reliable estimates are lacking, along with much of the most basic knowledge about their ecology, distribution, and evolution. Ichneumonid wasps, with very few exceptions, attack the immature stages of holometabolous insects and spiders, eventually killing their hosts. They thus fulfill an important role as regulators of insect populations, both in natural and semi-natural systems, making them promising agents for biological control.
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
Rhopalosomatidae is a family of Hymenoptera containing about 68 extant species in four genera that are found worldwide. Three fossil genera are known.
The Braconidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. After the closely related Ichneumonidae, braconids make up the second-largest family in the order Hymenoptera, with about 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. One analysis estimated a total between 30,000 and 50,000, and another provided a narrower estimate between 42,000 and 43,000 species.
The Micropezidae are a moderate-sized family of acalyptrate muscoid flies in the insect order Diptera, comprising about 500 species in about 50 genera and five subfamilies worldwide,. They are most diverse in tropical and subtropical habitats, especially in the Neotropical Region.
The Orussidae or the parasitic wood wasps represent a small family of sawflies ("Symphyta"). Currently, about 93 extant and four fossil species are known. They take a key position in phylogenetic analyses of Hymenoptera, because they form the sister taxon of the megadiverse apocritan wasps, and the common ancestor of Orussidae + Apocrita evolved parasitism for the first time in course of the evolution of the Hymenoptera. They are also the only sawflies with carnivorous larvae.
Anomaloninae is a subfamily of parasitoid wasps in the family Ichneumonidae. Several species provide beneficial services to humans by attacking forest or orchard pests.
Campopleginae is a large subfamily of the parasitoid wasp family Ichneumonidae with a world-wide distribution. Species in this subfamily have been used in the biological control of the alfalfa weevil, clover weevil, various species of Heliothis, oriental army worm, European corn borer, larch sawfly, and others.
The Labeninae is a subfamily within the parasitic wasp family Ichneumonidae . There are 12 extant genera, grouped within four tribes, that exhibit a predominantly Gondwanan distribution - most genera and species are found in Australia and South America. A few species of Labena and Grotea are found in North America, with hypotheses suggesting that the group radiated on Gondwanaland prior to the separation of Australia but after the separation of Africa/India/Madagascar.
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.
Palaeovespa is an extinct genus of wasp in the Vespidae subfamily Vespinae. The genus currently contains eight species, five from the Priabonian stage Florissant Formation in Colorado, United States two from the middle Eocene Baltic amber deposits of Europe. and one species from the late Paleocene of France.
Megarhyssa nortoni, also known as Norton's giant ichneumonid wasp or the western giant ichneumonid wasp, is a species of large ichneumon wasp.
Amblyteles armatorius is a species of parasitic wasp in the family Ichneumonidae first described by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1771.
Polistes nimpha is a eusocial paper wasp found all over Europe, with particular sightings in Turkey, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. It is also found in northern Africa, Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. The climate in these areas is relatively cold and snowy in the winter, while summers are usually hot and dry, with steppe vegetation. Polistes nimpha colonies are relatively small and easily manipulated.
Anomalon cruentatum is a species of parasitoid wasps belonging to the family Ichneumonidae.
Meringopus calescens is a species of wasp belonging to the family Ichneumonidae first described by Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst in 1829.
Lusius is a genus of parasitoid wasps in the tribe Phaeogenini Förster, 1869 or Alomyini Förster, 1869, first described by Pierre Jules Tosquinet in 1903, published after his death. The genus is similar in appearance to species in the genus Heterischnus. Lusius occurs in the Oriental, Afrotropical, Neotropical and Australasian biogeographical regions.
Trogus is a genus of parasitoid wasp found in the Holarctic and Neotropic regions. It is placed in the subfamily Ichneumoninae. Trogus species are parasites of larvae and pupae of the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae. The genus consists of twelve extant and one extinct species.
Limonethe is a genus of ichneumon wasps in the family Ichneumonidae. There are about five described species in Limonethe. They can be distinguished from similar genera based on the nearly square-shaped areolet and the large and dense punctures on the post-petiole. Many also have infuscated wings, a red abdomen, black head and mesosoma with narrow white markings along the inner eye margins. Limonethe occurs in the New World from Canada to Argentina.
Zatypota percontatoria is a species of parasitoid wasps that is part of the order Hymenoptera and the family Ichneumonidae responsible for parasitizing arachnids, specifically those of the family Theridiidae.
