Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Family Figitidae

Eucoilidae Figitid ex agromyzid ex Rudbeckia laciniata - Gronotoma Gall Wasp Wasp parasitizing a syrphid larva - female wasp Anacharitinae Cynipoidea; Figitidae; Anacharitinae; Anacharis - Anacharis Small Porch Light Wasp Two
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps)
Superfamily Cynipoidea
Family Figitidae
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Eucoilinae and Charipinae used to be treated as separate families(1)
Explanation of Names
Figitidae Hartig 1840
Numbers
~170 spp. in ~40 genera in our area(1), estimated 14,000 spp. worldwide (mostly undescribed), only ~1600 spp. in ~150 genera are described(2)
Food
hosts: larvae of cyclorrhaphous Diptera, or Hemerobiidae and Chrysopidae (Neuroptera), or Syrphidae (Diptera); cynipoid or chalcidoid gall inducers; or Braconidae or Chalcidoidea that parasitize Hemiptera(3)
Internet References
Works Cited
1.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.
2.Order Hymenoptera. In: Zhang Z-Q (ed) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classif. and survey of taxonomic richness
Aguiar AP, Deans AR, Engel MS, Forshage M, Huber JT, Jennings JT, Johnson NF, Lelej AS, Longino JT, Lohrmann V, Mikó I, Ohl M. 2013. Zootaxa 3703: 51–62.
3.van Noort S. (2004-2015) WaspWeb: Wasps, bees and ants of Africa and Madagascar