The Megaspilidae are a small hymenopteran family with 13 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.
| Megaspilidae | |
|---|---|
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| Mounted specimen of a male Dendrocerus sp. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Superfamily: | Ceraphronoidea |
| Family: | Megaspilidae |
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.
Genera
editThese 13 genera belong to the family Megaspilidae:
- Aetholagynodes Dessart, 1994[1][2][3]
- Archisynarsis Szabó, 1973[1][2][3]
- Conostigmus Dahlbom, 1858[1][2][3]
- Creator Alekseev, 1980[1][2][3]
- Dendrocerus Ratzeburg, 1852[1][2][3]
- Holophleps Kozlov, 1966[1][2][3]
- Lagynodes Förster, 1841[1][2][3]
- Megaspilus Westwood, 1829[1][2][3]
- Platyceraphron Kieffer, 1906[1][2][3]
- Prolagynodes Alekseev & Rasnitsyn, 1981[1][2][3]
- Trassedia Cancemi, 1996[1][2][3]
- Trichosteresis Förster, 1856[1][2][3]
- Typhlolagynodes Dessart, 1981[1][2][3]
References
editExternal links
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