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<steoidea.htm> [For educational purposes
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HYMENOPTERA, Stephenoidea.— Only one family, Stephanidae is noted in this
superfamily, which may be found in file <stephan.htm>. Mason (1993) also included only one family, Stephanidae, in
this superfamily.
This small Hymenopteran superfamily includes a single family, Stephanidae with 9 genera and about
305 species, primarily tropical and subtropical in distribution. They all
have a slender and elongated body, highly modified hind legs, and an almost
spherical head on a long "neck", bearing a set of about five
"teeth" on the face surrounding the ocelli. They resemble
Gasteruptiidae, but they are glossy and often sculptured, and the swollen
hind femora are unlike any gasteruptiid leg. Some species are
parasitoids of xylophagous beetle larvae, while one species, Schlettererius
cinctipes, is a parasitoid of horntail wasps References: Please refer to
<biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be
found at: MELVYL Library] |