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The most familiar members of the group are phytophagous, especially as gall-formers, though the actual majority of included species are parasitoids or hyperparasitoids. They are typically glossy, dark, smooth wasps with somewhat compressed bodies and somewhat reduced wing venation.
Species that parasitize microlepidopterans, for instance, have longer ovipositors, presumably to reach the caterpillar through layers of plant tissue. Some wasps also have long ovipositors to bypass caterpillar defense mechanisms such as spines or hairs, or to reach deeply-burrowed Coleoptera larvae in tree trunks.
Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, [1] with brilliant metallic colors created by structural coloration. [2]
There are roughly 300 species of solitary wasps in California, she added. Yellowjackets and paper wasps are the two most common social wasp species in Northern California, Kimsey said.
Adult female wasps of most species oviposit into their hosts' bodies or eggs. More rarely, parasitoid wasps may use plant seeds as hosts, such as Torymus druparum. [5] Some also inject a mix of secretory products that paralyse the host or protect the egg from the host's immune system; these include polydnaviruses, ovarian proteins, and venom ...
Many species of wasp, including especially the cuckoo or jewel wasps (Chrysididae), are kleptoparasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other wasp species to exploit their parental care. Most such species attack hosts that provide provisions for their immature stages (such as paralyzed prey items), and they either consume the provisions ...
Chalcidoid wasps are small wasps (most within the range 0.5–5 mm). However the group does include the smallest known insect (Dicopomorpha echmepterygis males have a body length of 0.14–0.24 mm); the largest chalcidoids include Leucospis gigas with a body length of up to 21 mm [2] and Doddifoenus wallacei with a body length of up to 19.6 mm. [3]
Encyrtidae (parasitic wasps) 59 species; Eulophidae 140 species; Eupelmidae (parasitic wasps) 3 species including, Eupelmus vesicularis 1 species; Eurytomidae 17 species; Mymaridae (fairyflies / fairy wasps) 21 species; Ormyridae (parasitic wasps) 1 species; Pteromalidae (parasitoid wasps) 167 species; Tetracampidae (parasitic wasps) 2 species ...