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HYMENOPTERA [Latest Classification]
Please refer to the following links for
details on this groups:
Hymenoptera = Photos-1, Photos-2 Description & Behavior Principal Families References Description & Behavior
Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects that includes the
sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. There are over 130,056 identified
species. The name relates to the
heavy wings of the insects, and comes from the Greek for hymen membrane and pteron
for wing. The hindwings are connected to the forewings by a series of hooks
called hamuli.
Females usually have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into
hosts or otherwise remote places. The ovipositor also is usually modified
into a stinger. The immatures develop through complete metamorphosis with a
worm-like larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature. The
order dates from the Triassic, the oldest fossils belonging to the family
Xyelidae. Social hymenopterans first appeared during the Cretaceous. The
evolution of this group has been intensively studied by A. Rasnitsyn, M. S.
Engel, G. Dlussky (see References). The
size ranges from medium to large, usually with two pairs of wings. The mouthparts are for chewing, with
well-developed mandibles. Many species have further developed the mouthparts
into a lengthy proboscis, with which they can imbibe liquids, such as nectar.
They have large compound eyes, and usually three ocelli. The
forward margin of the hindwing bears a number of hooked bristles, or
"hamuli", which lock onto the forewing, holding them together. The
smaller species may have only two or three hamuli on each side, but the
largest wasps may have a considerable number, keeping the wings gripped
together very tightly. The wings have
few veins compared with many other insects, especially in the smaller
species. In the
more primitive species, the ovipositor takes the shape of a blade, and has
adapted to slicing plant tissues. However most species have it modified for
piercing, and, in some cases, is several times the length of the body. The
ovipositor may also become modified as a stinger, and the eggs are laid from
the base of the structure, rather than from the tip, which is used only for
boring and to inject venom. The
stinger is used to immobilise prey, but in some wasps and bees may be used
for defence. The
larvae of the primitive species resemble caterpillars, and like them, they
feed on leaves. They have large chewing mandibles, three thoracic limbs, and
usually a number of abdominal prolegs. But unlike caterpillars, the prolegs
have no grasping spines, and the antennae are greatly reduced.
The larvae of other Hymenoptera more closely resemble maggots, and are
adapted to life in a protected environment. This may be the body of a host,
or a cell in a nest, where the adults will care for the larva (e.g.,
Bethylidae). Such larvae have soft bodies with no limbs. Defecation occurs
when they reach adulthood due to having an incomplete digestive tract,
probably to avoid contaminating their surroundings. Sex is
determined by the number of chromosomes that an insect has. Fertilized eggs receive two sets.
chromosomes (one from each parent's respective gametes), and so develop into diploid
females, while unfertilized eggs only contain one set (from the mother), and
so develop into haploid males; the act of fertilization is under the
voluntary control of the egg-laying female, a process that is known as
haplodiploidy. The actual
genetic mechanisms of haplodiploid sex determination may be more complex than
simple chromosome number. In many Hymenoptera, sex is actually determined by
a single gene locus with many alleles. In these species, haploids are male
and diploids heterozygous at the sex locus are female, but occasionally a
diploid will be homozygous at the sex locus and develop into a male. This is
common in an individual whose parents were siblings or other close relatives.
Diploid males are known to be produced by inbreeding in ants, bees and wasps. One
result of haplodiploidy is that females on average actually have more genes
in common with their sisters than they do with their own daughters. Because
of this, cooperation among kindred females may be unusually advantageous, and
may contribute to the multiple origins of eusociality within this order.
Different species show a wide range of feeding habits. The most primitive
forms are usually herbivorous, feeding on leaves or pine needles. Stinging
wasps are predators, and will provide their larvae with immobilised prey,
while bees feed on nectar and pollen Quite
a few species are parasitoids as larvae. The adults inject the eggs into a
paralysed host, which the larvae begin to consume after hatching. Some
species are even hyperparasitoids, with the host itself being another
parasitoid insect. Habits intermediate between those of the herbivorous and
parasitoid forms occur in some species that inhabit the galls or nests of
other insects, utilizing their food, and even killing and devouring the
occupant. The
suborder Symphyta includes the sawflies, horntails, and parasitic wood wasps.
The group may be paraphyletic, as it has been thought that the family
Orussidae may be the ancestral group of the Apocrita. They have an
unconstricted junction between the thorax and abdomen, and the larvae of
free-living forms are herbivorous, have legs, prolegs (on every segment,
unlike Lepidoptera and ocelli. The
wasps, bees, and ants together make up the suborder Apocrita, characterized
by a constriction between the first and second abdominal segments called a
petiole, that also involves the fusion of the firs abdominal segment to the
thorax. Also, the larvae of all Apocrita do not have legs, prolegs, or ocelli Principal Families & Subfamilies
References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references
may be found at: MELVYL
Library] Achterberg, C.
van. 1982. Familietabel van de Hymenoptera in Noordwest‑Europa.
Wetenschappelijke Mededelingen van de Koningklijke Nederlandse
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ants, and bees). Pages 402‑471 in
Amer. insects: a handbook of the insects of Amer. north of Mexico. Van
Nostrand Reinold, New York, USA. 850 pp. Berland, L., and F. Bernard. 1951a. Hymenopteroides
(Symphytes et Terebrants). Pages 771‑975 in Grasse, P.‑P. Traite de zoologie, anatomie,
systematique, biologie. Tome X. Insectes superieurs et hemipteroides (Premier fascicule).
Masson, Paris, France. 975 pp. Berland, L., and F. Bernard. 1951b. Hymenopteroides
(Aculeates). Pages 976‑1276, in Grasse, P.‑P. Traite de zoologie, anatomie,
systematique, biologie. Tome X. Insectes superieurs et hemipteroides (Fascicule II).
Masson, Paris, France. 973 pp. Berland, L.
1958a. Atlas des Hymenopteres de France,
Belgique, Suisse. I. Tenthredes, Parasites, Porte‑aiguillon
(Bethylides). Nouvel Atlas d'Entomologie. Editions N. Boubee, Paris, France. 155 pp. Berland, L.
1958b. Atlas des Hymenopteres de France,
Belgique, Suisse. II. Porte‑aiguillons: Bethyloides (fin), Scolioides,
Formicoides, Pompiloides, Vespoides, Sphecoides, Apoides. Nouvel Atlas
d'Entomologie. Editions N. Boubee, Paris, France. 184 pp. Betts, C. 1986. The hymenopterist's handbook.
The amateur entomologist. Vol. VII. Second edition. The Amateur
Entomologist's Soc., Middlesex, England. 208 pp. Bischoff, H.
1929. Biologie der Hymenopteren: eine Naturgeschischte der Hautflugler.
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