Cynipidae

	Phanacis
	Rhoophilus

Distribution	Predominately a northern Hemisphere group, and most of the 1300 described species are Holarctic. The exceptions are eight species that occur in South America, the endemic South African genus Rhoophilus Mayr and an indigenous South African species of Phanacis.
Biology	Herbivores that either induce galls on plants or develop as obligate inhabitants (termed inquilines) in the galls induced by other insects.
Reference	Ritchie, A.J. 1993. Superfamily Cynipoidea (pp. 521-536). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp. Ronquist, F. 1999. Phylogeny, classification and evolution of the Cynipoidea. Zoologica Scripta 28:139–164. Ronquist, F. & Liljeblad, J. 2001. Evolution of the gall wasp–host plant association. Evolution 55: 2503–2522.
Credits	Photographs by Simon van Noort © Iziko Museums of Cape Town Matt Buffington (Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA/ARS) played an integral role in the development of the Cynipoidea pages