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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 » Rhopalosomatid Wasps (Rhopalosomatidae)

Family Rhopalosomatidae - Rhopalosomatid Wasps

Classification · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

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 (Rhopalosomatid Wasps)

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

diagnosis in(1); key to genera in(1)

Olixon banksii: adult images (web archive)

Range

In NA, mostly se. US (north to NY-ON-MN, west to KS-TX); globally, primarily tropical(1), none extant in the Palaeartic (3 extinct)

Cretolixon: 1 extinct species known from Burmese amber (Myanmar: Cenomanian age, Late Cretaceous)

Eorhopalosoma: 2 extinct species known from Burmese amber (Myanmar: Cenomanian age, Late Cretaceous)

Liosphex: 14 spp., one so. US to Brazil and one Oriental (Philippines, Indonesia)

Rhopalosoma: 18 spp., New World (e. US to Argentina)

Olixon: 29 spp., Africa, Australia, Americas (s. Canada to Brazil)

Paniscomima: 13 spp., Palaeotropical

Season

usually found during the 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

rarely encountered, probably active at night

Larvae

See Also

Olixon banksii may be mistaken for a velvet ant or a bethylid

Rhopalosoma nearcticum is very similar to some ichneumonids (Ophioninae, Netelia)

Print References

Townes H.K. (1977) A revision of the Rhopalosomatidae. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute 15(1), 34 pp.

Internet References

Rhopalosomatidae of Florida

Wasp web

Wikipedia

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

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 3 November, 2021 - 6:06pm

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