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

Superfamily Cynipoidea

White oak gall wasp - Ceroptres - female Andricus chrysolepidicola on Quercus berberidifolia - Andricus chrysolepidicola Larger Empty Oak Apple Wasp - Amphibolips quercusinanis Small black wasp Tiny Wasp wasp Cynipini - Oak Gall Wasps ? gall and unknown wasp - Callirhytis seminator
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
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Charipidae and Eucoilidae have been sunk into Figitidae(1)(2).
Numbers
5-6 families total (incl. monotypic Australian Austrocynipidae); >800 spp. in our area, ~2000 worldwide(3)(1)
Identification
Mostly small or minute insects with reduced venation. Most species are black and the abdomen is usually shiny and somewhat compressed. Filiform antennae; the pronotum extends back to the tegulae and the ovipositor issues from the anterior apex of the abdomen.
Larval morphology: see(4)
Remarks
Gall makers, gall inquilines or parasites.
Internet References
Cynipoidea In Catalan, with excellent photos
Works Cited
1.Australian Faunal Directory
2.Phylogeny and classification of Hymenoptera
Sharkey M.J. 2007. Zootaxa 1668: 521–548.
3.Hymenoptera of the world: an identification guide to families
Goulet H., Huber J., eds. 1993. Agriculture Canada Publication 1894/E. 668 pp.
4.Comparative morphology of terminal-instar larvae of Cynipoidea: phylogenetic implications
J.L. Nieves-Aldrey, H. Vårdal, F. Ronquist. 2005. Zoologica Scripta 34: 15–36.