British Insects: the Families of Hymenoptera
| British Insects: the Families of Hymenoptera | |
Adults minute to small; 1–6 mm long.
Head. Antennal segments 11–15. Antennae geniculate.
Thorax. Pronotum long, extending back to the tegulae; vertically grooved to receive the fore femur. Cenchri absent. Wings present, or absent (aptery sometimes occurring in both sexes of the same species). Fore-wings without a pterostigma; with very reduced venation (though exhibiting both marginal and submarginal veins); combining greatly reduced venation with a conspicuous, blind-ending stigmal vein. Closed fore-wing cells 0, or 1 (the costal?). Submarginal cells 0. Discoidal cells 0. Hind-wings without closed cells. Mid and hind tibiae with two spurs. Hind femur without a well defined trochantellus. Hind tibiae without specialised spurs.
Abdomen. The abdomen with a marked basal constriction. The ‘waist’ simple. Ovipositor of females not visibly protruding; adapted for piercing.
Larvae. Larvae legless or the legs vestigial; parasitic on hosts selected by the mother (mainly on Diptera (especially tachinids, including some hyper-parasites), also on Lepidoptera and Coleoptera).
Classification. Species in Britain about 300; genera about 40 (with numerous species of Aclista, Basalys, Cinetus, Pantoclis, Paramesius, Trichopria, etc.). Suborder Apocrita; Series Parasitica; Superfamily Proctotrupoidea.
Illustrations. • Psilus fuscipennis (Curtis) (B. Ent. 341). • Psilus fuscipennis (detail: B. Ent. 341). • Psilus fuscipennis (dissections: B. Ent. 341). • Psilus fuscipennis (B. Ent. 341, legend+text). • Psilus fuscipennis: B. Ent. 341, text cont.. • Ismarus dorsiger (Curtis): B. Ent. 380. • Ismarus dorsiger: B. Ent. 380, legend+text. • Ismarus dorsiger: B. Ent. 380, text cont..
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the families of Hymenoptera. Version: 9th April 2007. http://delta-intkey.com’.
