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<rhopalo.htm> [For educational
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HYMENOPTERA, Rhopalosomidae (Rhopalosomatidae) (Vespoidea)-- <Images> & <Juveniles> Description & Statistics This family contains ca.
70 described species in four genera that are found worldwide. Three fossil
genera are known. The adults resemble
ants. They are yellow with red or brown markings but may be all brown in
color. Winged species are usually nocturnal, while wingless or reduced-wing
species are diurnal. They are solitary and the larvae are ectoparasitic on
nymphs of Orthoptera. The tips of 2 or more antennal segments have spines.
Hindwings, when present, have claval and jugal lobes. The metatibia has a
curved spur. Rhopalosoma is a
New World genus (ca. 18 spp.) with most species from Central and South
America. Olixon (ca. 25 spp.) ranges through Africa and Australia and
the New World. Paniscomima (ca. 12 spp.) is known from India,
Madagascar, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Most Liosphex (ca. 15 spp.) occur in the southern USA to
Central and South America with one species, L. trichopleurum, from the
Philippines and Indonesia. Mesorhopalosoma cearae is a fossil known
from Brazil. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = References: Please refer to
<biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL
Library] Brues,
C.T. 1926. "Note on the
Hymenopterous Family Rhopalosomatidae". Psyche 33: 18–19. Darling, D. C.
& M. J. Sharkey. 1990. "Insects from the Santana Formation, Lower
Cretaceous, of Brazil. Hymenoptera". Bulletin of the American Museum
of Natural History 195: 123–153. Engel,
M.S. 2008. "The Wasp Family Rhopalosomatidae
in Mid-Cretaceous Amber from Myanmar (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea)". Journal
of the Kansas Entomological Society 81 (3): 168–174. Goulet, H. & J. T. Huber 1993a. Hymenoptera of the world:
An identification guide to families. Centre for Land and Biological Resources
Research, Ottawa 1993. Goulet, H. & J. T. Huber, ed. 1993b. Hymenoptera
of the world: an identification guide to families. Agriculture Canada. p. 205. Guidotti, A. E.
1999. Systematics
of little known parasitic wasps of the family Rhopalosomatidae (Hymenoptera:
Vespoidea). Unpublished MSc thesis, University of Toronto. Guidotti, A.
E. 2007. "A revision of the wasp
genus Paniscomima(Hymenoptera: Rhopalosomatidae)and a proposal of
phylogenetic relationships among species". Invertebrate Systematics 21: 297–309. Lohrmann, L. & M. Ohl. 2010. "World revision of the wasp genus Liosphex
Townes, 1977 (Hymenoptera: Rhopalosomatidae)". Zootaxa (2384):
1–43. |