Pteromalidae
The Pteromalidae are a large family of wasps, the majority being parasitoids of other insects. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and many are important as biological control agents. The oldest known fossil is known from the Early Cretaceous.
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderHymenoptera
- FamilyPteromalidae
This is one of the largest families in the Chalcidoidea. Several genera of pteromalids have been reared from fly puparia, including tephritids, but relatively few from fruit-infesting tephritids. The most commonly encountered pteromalids reared from fruit-infesting tephritids are Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Rondani) (Figures 1-3) and various species of Spalangia (Figures 4 & 5). These are polyphagous pupal parasitoids, and usually gregarious when attacking tephritids. Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae, though often mass-reared for release against tephritid pests, is more likely to attack other hosts, such as drosophilids. P. vindemmiae was introduced in Bolivia in 1969 for control of Ceratitis capitata (Bennett and Squire 1972). The species name for Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Figures 1-3) is often incorrectly spelled vindemiae because of confusion on the part of Rondani in a subsequent publication. Other pteromalids that are known to attack fruit-infesting tephritids include at least one species each in the genera Halticoptera, Cyrtogaster, and Pteromalus. Halticoptera is a koinobiont larval parasitoid, Cyrtogaster is an idiobiont pupal parasitoid, and Pteromalus is an idiobiont larv
via GBIF
Wikidata facts
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Description
- Ecology
- Subfamilies, tribes, and genera
- [[Colotrechninae]]
- [[Erixestinae]]
- [[Miscogastrinae]]
- [[Ormocerinae]]
- [[Pachyneurinae|Metasteninae]]
- [[Pteromalinae]]
- [[Sycophaginae]]
- [[Trigonoderinae]]
- ''Incertae sedis'' (unplaced to subfamily)
- References
- External links
The Pteromalidae are a large family of wasps, the majority being parasitoids of other insects. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and many are important as biological control agents. The oldest known fossil is known from the Early Cretaceous.
Prior to 2022, the subfamily-level divisions of the family were highly contentious and unstable, and the family was thought to be "artificial", composed of numerous, distantly related groups (polyphyletic). In essence, a "pteromalid" was any member of the Chalcidoidea that had five-segmented tarsi and did not have the defining features of any of the remaining families with five-segmented tarsi.