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HYMENOPTERA, Scelionidae (Haliday 1840) - (Platygastroidea) -- <Images> & <Juveniles>

Please refer also to the following link for details on this group:

Scelionidae = Link 1

Scelionidae. -- Scelionids are small insects that are parasitoids of insect or spider eggs. Some species have been successfully deployed in the biological control of crop pests. The females of some species, mainly those that attack the eggs of grasshoppers or mantids, attach themselves to the female of the host species and ride on it until the host lays its eggs, after which they depart from the host and attack its eggs. In a few such cases the female may do some feeding on the adult of the host, but usually the adult host serves only as a means of disemination. This behavior is known as phoresy and is found also in the chalcid family Eucharltidae

This is a large cosmopolitan group with ca. 3025 described species in 163 genera. All are small parasitoids small ranging from 0.6 to 10 mm. long. Most species are black and frequently sculptured, with elbowed antennae of 9 or 10 segments on the flagellum.

They are generally idiobionts, attacking the eggs of many different types of insects or spiders, and many have been deployed in biological control. A few genera are wingless, and a few attack aquatic insect eggs in the water.

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References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL Library]

Balduf, W. V. 1926. J. Econ. Ent. 19: 829-41.

Kozlov, M. A. 1978/1987. Family Scelionidae (Scelionids). 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.

Masner, L. 1976. Mem. Ent. Soc. Canad. 97: 1-87.

Masner, L. 1980. Mem. Ent. Soc. Canad. 113: 1-54.

Nixon, G. E. J. 1935. Trans. Roy. Ent. Soc. London 88: 73-103.

Safavi, M. 1968. Entomophaga 13: 381-495.