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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps » Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps (Ichneumonoidea) » Braconid Wasps (Braconidae)

Family Braconidae - Braconid Wasps

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Works Cited
Braconid - Phaenocarpa Wasp - female braconid - Bracon - male Aleiodes ? Wasp Sp. wasp Aphidiine braconid - Aphidius - female Braconidae, lateral
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 Ichneumonoidea (Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps)
Family Braconidae (Braconid Wasps)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
classification in the guide follows (1)
Explanation of Names
Braconidae Latreille 1829
Numbers
>1700 spp. in >200 genera of 36 subfamilies in our area; close to 20,000 spp. in >1000 genera of ~50 subfamilies worldwide. Ghahari et al. (2003) estimate 120,000 spp.
subfamilies not yet in the guide [# spp. in our area]:
Dirrhopinae [1]
Masoninae [2 in 1 genus, se.US]
Meteorideinae [2 in 1 genus]
Size
rarely >15 mm; smallest 1‒3 mm
Identification
Antennae with ≥16 segments in most individuals (11 segments in some Aphidiinae)
Metatrochanters 2-segmented
Vein 2m-cu absent, (RS+M)a usually present

see also (2)(3) • morphology diagrams in (4)
Food
Larval hosts: immature insects incl. Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, &c. Phytophagous gall-forming species exist in the Doryctinae (Marsh 1991)
Life Cycle
Many are egg-larval parasitoids (eggs laid into host eggs but start to develop after the host larva hatch). Unlike ichneumonids, many pupate in silken cocoons outside the host; others spin cocoons away from the host.(5) Very few use host pupae to complete the cycles, except for fly parasitoids in Alysiinae and Opiinae.
See Also
Ichneumonidae: Hybrizontinae
Print References
Marsh P.M. (1991) Description of a phytophagous doryctinae braconid from Brazil (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 93: 92‒95.
Works Cited
1.Molecular phylogenetics of Braconidae (Hym.:Ichneumonoidea) based on multiple nuclear genes, and implications for classification
Sharanowsky B.J., Dowling A.P.G., Sharkey M.J. 2011. Syst. Entomol. 36: 549‒572.
2.Illustrated Key to the Subfamilies of the Braconidae
Cornelis van Achterberg. 1993. Zoologische Verhandelingen, 283(1): 1-189.
3.Manual of the New World Genera of the Family Braconidae (Hymenoptera)
Wharton, R.A., P.M. Marsh, M.J. Sharkey (Eds). 1997. International Society of Hymenopterists.
4.A Revision of the Tetrasphaeropyx Ashm. Lineage of the Genus Aleiodes Wesmael (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae)
Fortier, Joseph C. 2009. Magnolia Press.
5.Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects
Norman F. Johnson, Charles A. Triplehorn. 2004. Brooks Cole.
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, josephfortier, Beatriz Moisset, Wisconsin Oecanthinancy, v belov, KenW, PaleoJon, Arturo Santos, Nathaniel Green
Last updated 13 February, 2025 - 5:18pm

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