Family Leucospidae

Classification · Numbers · Size · Identification · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)

No Taxon ("Parasitica" (parasitic Apocrita))

Superfamily Chalcidoidea (Chalcid Wasps)

Family Leucospidae

Numbers

6 spp. in a single genus in our area, >130 spp. in 4 genera worldwide(1)

Size

4-17 mm

Identification

Usually black and yellow. They are stout insects, they fold wings longitudinally at rest and look a little like small yellowjackets. The ovipositor is long and curves forward and upward over the abdomen, ending over the posterior part of the thorax. Like the Chalcidids they have the hind femora greatly swollen and toothed on the ventral side.(2)

Food

parasitoids of aculeate Hymenoptera (mainly solitary bees, less frequently solitary wasps, e.g. Vespidae and Sphecidae)(1)

Life Cycle

Eggs are deposited externally on the host larva or nearby. The first instar larva does not feed at first but searches the host cell for competitors; only one parasitoid larva survives and develops as an ectoparasitoid sucking the body fluids of the host.(1)

Remarks

rather rare; may be found on flowers(3)

Works Cited

1.	Universal Chalcidoidea Database

2.	A handbook of the families of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). 2nd Edition By E.E. Grissell & M. E. Schauff

3.	Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects By Norman F. Johnson, Charles A. Triplehorn

Contributed by Richard Leung on 8 May, 2005 - 7:33pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Hartmut Wisch, v belov
Last updated 20 May, 2011 - 8:43am

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