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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Twisted-winged Insects (Strepsiptera)

Order Strepsiptera - Twisted-winged Insects

Classification · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Polistes aurifer assymetry - Xenos peckii - female

Strepsiptera found in malaise trap...Corioxenidae? - male

Strepsiptera on Zethus spinipes - Eupathocera - female

Male strepsipterans (Eupathocera lugubris) recently eclosed from a male Ammophila pictipennis - Eupathocera lugubris - male

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Strepsiptera (Twisted-winged Insects)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

probably sister to beetles(1) and used to be included in beetles by some workers(2)

Explanation of Names

Strepsiptera Kirby, 1813

'twisted wing'

Numbers

~91 spp. in 14 genera of 6 families arranged in a single suborder (Stylopidia) in our area(3)(4)

~630 spp. in 43 genera of 15 families (10 extant) worldwide,(5)(4) arranged in 2 suborders, Mengenillidia (3 extant families) and Stylopidia (8 families)(6)(7)

Overview of our fauna of Strepsiptera

(* denotes taxa not yet in the guide)

Order Strepsiptera

Suborder Stylopidia

Family Corioxenidae

Subfamily *Corioxeninae *Floridoxenos (1 sp.), *Loania (1 sp.)

Subfamily Triozocerinae Triozocera (2 spp.)

Family Halictophagidae

Subfamily Halictophaginae Halictophagus (12 spp.)

Family *Elenchidae

Subfamily *Elenchinae *Elenchus (1 sp.)

Family *Myrmecolacidae *Caenocholax (1 sp.)

Family Stylopidae *Crawfordia (4 spp.), *Eurostylops (4 spp.), Halictoxenos (5 spp.), *Hylecthrus (1 sp.), Stylops (37 spp.)

Family Xenidae Eupathocera (6 spp.), Leionotoxenos (10 spp.), Xenos (6 spp.)

Size

0.5-4 mm(8)

Identification

Adult females are larviform/neotenic endoparasites; adult males are free-living, and their sole mission is to find and fertilize a female. They have reduced forewings and fan-shaped hind wings, branched antennae, and raspberry-like eyes, unique among living insects and somewhat similar to the eyes of trilobites.(7)

Key to families (adult males) by Kathirithamby & Taylor (2005).(3) See further taxonomic work by Pohl (2002) and Benda et al. (2022) on the overlooked separation of Stylopidae and Xenidae.

Range

worldwide

Suborder Stylopidia is cosmopolitan (2 families of 2 spp. each are restricted to the Neotropical and Oriental regions, respectively)

Suborder Mengenillidia is an Old World group(7), the recently discovered monotypic Bahiaxenidae is a "living fossil" from Brazil(5)

Food

obligate parasites of insects (hosts include members of 7 orders and 34 families)(7)

Life Cycle

Apart from the adult males, the only free-living stages are the viviparous 1st instar host-seeking larvae(7); the larvae hatch as free agents from eggs laid on flowers. When a suitable host visits the flower, the larva attach itself to it and become parasitic.(8)

Print References

Benda D, Pohl H, Nakase Y, Beutel R, Straka J (2022) A generic classification of Xenidae (Strepsiptera) based on the morphology of the female cephalothorax and male cephalotheca with a preliminary checklist of species. ZooKeys, 1093: 1-134. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1093.72339

Pohl, H (2002) Phylogeny of the Strepsiptera based on morphological data of the first instar larvae. Zoologica Scripta, 31(1): 123-134. DOI: 10.1046/j.0300-3256.2001.00078.x

Internet References

Fact sheet from Virginia Tech(9) (Web Archive) - taxonomy is out of date

Works Cited

1.	Phylogenomics resolves the timing and pattern of insect evolution Bernhard Misof et al. 2014. Science Vol. 346, 763.

2.	Peterson Field Guides: Beetles Richard E. White. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Company.

3.	A new species of Halictophagus (Insecta: Strepsiptera: Halictophagidae) from Texas, and a checklist of Strepsiptera... Kathirithamby J., Taylor S.J. 2005. Zootaxa 1056: 1-18.

4.	Annotated catalog of the order Strepsiptera of the World Jerry L. Cook. 2019. Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 145(2):121-267.

5.	Kathirithamby J. (2014) Strepsiptera database

6.	Australian Faunal Directory

7.	Kathirithamby J. Strepsiptera (in The Tree of Life Web Project)

8.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

9.	Virginia Tech's Entomology Department Insect Identification Lab

Contributed by Tony DiTerlizzi on 10 January, 2005 - 9:29pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Bbarnd, Phycus, Mike Quinn, ceiseman, v belov, roar, PaleoJon
Last updated 15 January, 2023 - 9:23am

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