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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Rhopalosomatidae

Family Rhopalosomatidae

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Works Cited
Rhopalosomatidae larva, 4th instar Rhopalosoma nearcticum - female Some kind of wasp - Rhopalosoma nearcticum Rhopalosomatid Wasp - Rhopalosoma nearcticum - male Gelis from hardwood swamp - Olixon melinsula ? Wasp? - Rhopalosoma nearcticum Cricket with wasp larva parasite?
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 Vespoidea
Family Rhopalosomatidae
Explanation of Names
Rhopalosomatidae Brues 1922
Numbers
5 spp. in 3 genera in our area; 74 spp. in 4 extant genera worldwide (plus 3 spp. in 2 extinct genera)(1)(2)(3)
Size
Forewing 4.2‒17 mm(1)
Identification
revised in (4) • key to genera in (1)
Range
In NA, mostly se. US (north to NY-ON-MN, west to KS-TX); globally, primarily tropical(1), none in the Palaeartic
Season
mostly summer
Food
ectoparasitoids of cricket nymphs(2)(1) (usual hosts seem to be in the subfamily Hapithinae); it is not known whether adults feed
Life Cycle
Larvae
Remarks
rarely encountered, probably active at night
See Also
Olixon banksii may be mistaken for a velvet ant or a bethylid
Rhopalosoma nearcticum looks like o some ichneumonids (Ophioninae, Netelia)
Works Cited
1.Systematics of little known parasitic wasps of the family Rhopalosomatidae (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea)
Guidotti A.E. 1999.
2.Systematic revision of the New World Olixon Cameron with descriptions of O. melinsula sp. n....
Lohrmann V., Fox M., Solis M., Krogmann L. 2012. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 59: 259-275.
3.Lohrmann, V. & A.S. Kroupa (2019) The Rhopalosomatidae of the World
4.A revision of the Rhopalosomatidae
Townes H.K. 1977. Contrib. Am. Ent. Inst. 15, 34 pp.
Contributed by Nick Fensler on 16 August, 2006 - 10:12pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Chuck Entz, waspGeorge, v belov, metrioptera, PaleoJon
Last updated 30 October, 2023 - 10:43pm

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