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)