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Subfamily Alysiinae

Hymenoptera - Braconidae? Unknown Tiny Wasp Braconid Wasp - male Wasp Braconid wasp - Alysiinae - Alysia jaw wasp - female Alysiinae?  - Hoplitalysia Strange wasp - Hoplitalysia
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 Ichneumonoidea (Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps)
Family Braconidae (Braconid Wasps)
Subfamily Alysiinae
Other Common Names
Jaw Wasps(1)
Pronunciation
Ah-liss-ee-EYE-nee
Explanation of Names
Alysiinae Leach 1815
Numbers
>1,000 species worldwide(2)
Size
generally less than 5 mm, often 2-3 mm
Identification
Very large marginal cell is the hallmark for several genera in this subfamily. Similar wing venation with long, narrow stigma and large marginal cell is also found in some Opiinae.
The vertex of the head has a unique shape in dorsal view. Besides being large, it looks as though it were taken by the lateral edges and bent backward.
Outward curved "exodont" mandibles (Also see here) as opposed to inward curving mandibles of most mandibulate insects. To visualize a pair of exodont mandibles, place the backs of your hands together and then move your fingers outward.
Range
Worldwide
Food
hosts: immature cyclorrhaphous Diptera; adults feed on pollen and nectar
Life Cycle
Female alysiine wasps lay their eggs in the eggs or maggots of their hosts, and emerge from the host puparium after eating and killing the host. Thus they are "egg-pupal" or "larval-pupal" parasitoids. The hosts are cyclorraphous Diptera, which are flies with short antennae in which the adult emerges through the hard puparium through a circular opening. In the case of a parasitized fly puparium, the wasp emerges instead of the adult fly.(2) For more info on parasitoid lifeways Click here.
Remarks
wing venation often similar to that of Opiinae (that are also koinobiont endoparasitoids of cyclorrhaphous Diptera), but exodont mandibles distinguish alysiines from opiines
Alysiines use these specialized mandibles for digging out of the tough fly puparium after emergence from their own pupae
Works Cited
1.Three new species of Chorebus from Spain (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae).
Docavo, I., J. Tormos, and M. Fischer. . 2002. Florida Entomologist.
2.Manual of the New World Genera of the Family Braconidae (Hymenoptera)
Wharton, R.A., P.M. Marsh, M.J. Sharkey (Eds). 1997. International Society of Hymenopterists.