Encyclopedia of Life · EOL (see source)
Megalyridae
Sign in to saveMegalyroidea is a small hymenopteran superfamily of wasps that includes a single family, Megalyridae, with eight extant genera (plus around a dozen extinct ones) and 49 described species. Modern megalyrids are found primarily in the southern hemisphere, though fossils have only been found in the northern hemisphere. The most abundant and species-rich megalyrid fauna is in Australia. Another peak of diversity appears to be in the relict forests of Madagascar, but most of these species are still undescribed.
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderHymenoptera
- FamilyMegalyridae
Die Megalyridae sind eine Familie der Hautflügler (Hymenoptera), sie gehören dort zu den ursprünglicheren Taillenwespen mit parasitoider Lebensweise ("Legimmen", Terebrantia oder auch Parasitica). Die Familie umfasst etwa 50 rezente Arten, die weltweit in den Tropen und den gemäßigten Breiten der Südhalbkugel leben, eine Art nördlich bis Japan. Die Namensgebung leitet sich von dem extrem langen Legebohrer der Arten der australischen Gattung Megalyra ab ("Langschwanz" von altgriech megal-yra, eigentlich: -ura), deshalb werden die Megalyridae im Englischen manchmal als "long tailed wasps" bezeichnet.
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 18
- With media
- 2
- Family
- Megalyridae
- Collections
- NMV, SAM, AM, HIC, TMAG, QVMAG
- Recorded in
- Australia, South Africa, Madagascar
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Genera
- References
- Cited texts
- External links
Megalyroidea is a small hymenopteran superfamily of wasps that includes a single family, Megalyridae, with eight extant genera (plus around a dozen extinct ones) and 49 described species. Modern megalyrids are found primarily in the southern hemisphere, though fossils have only been found in the northern hemisphere. The most abundant and species-rich megalyrid fauna is in Australia. Another peak of diversity appears to be in the relict forests of Madagascar, but most of these species are still undescribed.
Historically, there has been much confusion about the definition of this family. Species now placed in Megalyridae have in the past been classified into as many as six other families (Braconidae, Evaniidae, Ichneumonidae, and Stephanidae, as well as Dinapsidae and Maimetshidae, with Dinapsidae now considered to be within the Megalyridae. Maimetshidae is no longer considered closely related to Megalyridae, and has been included in Trigonaloidea with Trigonalidae. The oldest fossils confidently identifiable as megalyrids date to the Early Cretaceous.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Megalyridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.