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

Family Megastigmidae

Wasp - Megastigmus - female  Megastigmus - Megastigmus - female Tiny Wasp on Rose Bush - Megastigmus - male Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid wasp - Megastigmus spermotrophus - female Megastigmidae, a male, dorsal - Megastigmus - male Megastigmus - female Very small Wasp - Megastigmus - female Megastigmus sp? - Megastigmus - male
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 Chalcidoidea (Chalcidoid Wasps)
Family Megastigmidae
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
see (1)
Formerly treated as a subfamily of Torymidae
Explanation of Names
Megastigmidae Thomson 1876
Range
Worldwide; 9 of 12 genera are Australasian, but the diversity in other regions appears underestimated.
Remarks
Many species are parasitoids of gall-inducing insects, while others are phytophagous (feeding on seeds or as gall inducers).
Works Cited
1.Torymidae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) revised: molecular phylogeny, circumscription and reclassification of the family...
Janšta P., Cruaud A,, Delvare G., Genson G., Heraty J., Křížková B., Rasplus J.-Y. 2018. Cladistics 34: 627‒651.