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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Cuckoo Wasps & allies (Chrysidoidea) » Flat Wasps (Bethylidae)

Family Bethylidae - Flat Wasps

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Remarks · Works Cited

Is this Pristocera armifera? - Pristepyris armiferus

Pseudisobrachium sp.? - Pseudisobrachium

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)

No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)

Superfamily Chrysidoidea (Cuckoo Wasps & allies)

Family Bethylidae (Flat Wasps)

Explanation of Names

Bethylidae Haliday 1840

Numbers

~200 spp. in >20 genera of 3 subfamilies in our area, 2200 spp. in ~100 genera of 5 extant subfamilies worldwide(1)(2)[Cite:1026032,2](3)(4)

Overview of our fauna [* –taxa without photos in the guide; adapted from(4)]

Family Bethylidae

Subfamily BETHYLINAE Bethylus, Goniozus, *Prosierola, *Sierola

Subfamily EPYRINAE Anisepyris, *Bakeriella, *Chlorepyris, Epyris, Holepyris, Laelius

Subfamily PRISTOCERINAE *Acrenesia, *Cleistepyris, Dissomphalus, Dracunesia, *Parascleroderma, Pristepyris, Pseudisobrachium

Subfamily SCLERODERMINAE *Allobethylus, Cephalonomia, *Glenosema, *Plastanoxus, *Prorops, Sclerodermus

Size

2-5 mm, rarely >10 mm

Identification

Females of many species are wingless and ant-like. Antennae with 12-13 segments.

Keys to our fauna in Evans (1978) (5).

Keys to world subfamilies and genera in Azevedo et al. (2018) (4).

Range

Worldwide(3)

Food

Parasitoids of coleopteran and lepidopteran larvae

Remarks

Some females have a painful sting

Works Cited

1.	Phylogenetic systematics of the family Bethylidae (Insecta:Hymenoptera) Pt II. Keys to subfamilies, tribes & genera in the world Terayama M. 2003. Acad. Reports Fac. Eng. Tokyo Polytech. Univ. 26: 16-29.

2.	Nearctic Hymenoptera other (Discover Life's IDnature guide)

3.	van Noort S. (2004-2015) WaspWeb: Wasps, bees and ants of Africa and Madagascar

4.	Global guide of the flat wasps (Hymenoptera, Bethylidae) Azevedo C. O., I. D. C. C. Alencar, M. S. Ramos, D. N. Barbosa, W. D. Colombo, J. M. R. Vargas, and J. Lim. 2018. Magnolia Press, Zootaxa.

5.	The Bethylidae of America north of Mexico Evans, H.E. 1978. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute No. 27, 332 pp.

Contributed by Beatriz Moisset on 29 April, 2005 - 8:10am
Additional contributions by Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, Robert Lord Zimlich, v belov, KenW, PaleoJon, Arturo Santos
Last updated 8 July, 2021 - 1:53pm

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