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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps » Aulacid, Ensign, and Gasteruptiid Wasps (Evanioidea) » Aulacid Wasps (Aulacidae)

Family Aulacidae - Aulacid Wasps

Classification · Numbers · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
What is this bug? (one more image) - Pristaulacus Wasp - Aulacus burquei - female Help to ID please - Pristaulacus foxleei Ichneumon - Pristaulacus - male Aulacid - Aulacus burquei Wasp - Pristaulacus - female Pristaulacus sp. - Pristaulacus - female Pristaulacus? - female
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 Evanioidea (Aulacid, Ensign, and Gasteruptiid Wasps)
Family Aulacidae (Aulacid Wasps)
Numbers
32 extant spp. in 2 genera in our area(1)(2), ~170 described spp. in 3 genera worldwide + about as many undescribed(3)
1. Aulacus Jurine, 1807 (9 spp.)
2. Pristaulacus Kieffer, 1900 (23 spp. + 1 fossil sp.)
Identification
Resemble Gasteruptiidae, but our spp. are usually black with reddish abdomen, longer antennae, and two recurring veins in the front wing.

The genera are separated based on the following traits of wing venation (see labeled diagram):(3)

Aulacus - has a 2r-m vein and a longer 2-Rs+M vein.


Pristaulacus - lacks a 2r-m vein and has a shortened 2-Rs+M vein.
Range
most of the world, more diverse in the tropics(3)
Habitat
Adults usually found around logs where hosts occur
Food
endoparasitoids of the wood-boring larvae of beetles (of several families, but mostly longhorns) and Xiphydria wood wasps(3)
Life Cycle
The host larva and the Aulacid larva start out at about the same stage and size, the aulacid larva prolongs development until the host is full size. Then is devours it. When mature, the larva leaves the empty cuticular shell of the host, spins a cocoon, and pupates.(4)
Remarks
Frequently mistaken for ichneumonid wasps as they often frequent dead standing trees, logs, woodpiles. Note "neck" between head and thorax and the high attachment point of the metasoma
Print References
Smith, A.S. 2008. Aulacidae of the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America (Hymenoptera). Beitrage zur Entomologie 58: 267-355.
Townes, Henry. 1950. The Nearctic species of Gasteruptiidae (Hymenoptera). Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 100(3259)
Internet References
Tree of Life (Web Archive)
Wikipedia
Works Cited
1.World catalog of the family Aulacidae (Hymenoptera)
Smith D.R. 2001. Contributions on Entomology, International 4: 263-319.
2.Aulacidae of the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America
David R. Smith. 2008. Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 58 (2): 267-355.
3.Aulacidae, by J.T. Jennings & A.R. Deans (in The Tree of Life Web Project)
4.Hidden Company that Trees Keep: Life from Treetops to Root Tips
James B. Nardi. 2023. Princeton University Press.
Contributed by Eric R. Eaton on 8 September, 2006 - 3:47pm
Additional contributions by josephfortier, Beatriz Moisset, Bbarnd, v belov, Marci Hess, PaleoJon
Last updated 20 July, 2024 - 2:35pm

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