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

Family Bethylidae - Flat Wasps

wasp? - Anisepyris - female wasp Wasp - Pristepyris Small Wasp: ID Request - Dracunesia parapolita wasp - Pseudisobrachium bethylid wasp - Pseudisobrachium bethylid - Goniozus
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
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.