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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]