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HYMENOPTERA, Monomachidae (Proctotrupoidea) -- <Images> & <Juveniles>
[Formerly Monoserphidae
< -- <Images>
& <Juveniles> Monomachidae Description & Statistics
The body of members of this family
is about 9.5-11.2 mm long (Masner 1993).
They are sexually dimorphic.
Females have a sickle-shaped attenuated metasoma, males have a
pedunculate metasoma. The mandibles
are very huge. The pronotum has a
sharp transverse ridge that is capable of sliding over the anterior part of
the mesoscutum. The propodeum is
cone-shaped, without a median keel.
The metacoxa is inserted relatively remote from the propodeal
foramen. The forewing usually has 5
closed cells and a relatively narrow stigma.
The metasomal segment 1 (petiole) is very long and slender, and
metasomal tergum 2 consists of 1 tergum that is not the longest segment. The ovipositor is extremely short,
concealed insider the metasomal segment 8. Some Neotropical species are light green and a few
multicolored. In Australia one
species has been reared from Stratiomyidae (Diptera). Adults of the Australian species are
active during winter. In 2
undescribed Neotropical species (from Peru and Chile) the female is
micropterous. The family has 2 genera
and ca. 20 rare species, mostly in the New World tropics (Guerrero, Mexico to
Argentina and Chile), with only a few additional ones in Australia and New
Guinea. They are all apparently of
Southern Hemispheric origin. Key references are Naumann (1985),
and Schultz (1911), Musetti & Johnson (2000). = = = = = = = = = = =
= References: Please
refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL Library
] Musetti, L. & N. F. Johnson.. 2000: First documented record of
Monomachidae (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea) in New Guinea, and description of
two new species. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington,
102: 957-963. Musetti, L. & N. F. Johnson. 2004: Revision of the
New World species of the genus Monomachus Klug (Hymenoptera:
Proctotrupoidea, Monomachidae). Canadian entomologist, 136: 501-552. Naumann, I. D. 1985: The Australian species
of Monomachidae (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea), with a revised diagnosis of
the family. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society, 24: 261-274. |