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Orussidae

Parasitic wood wasps of Africa and Madagascar

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Orussoidea)

ClassificationIdentification keys

Chalinus Konow

Leptorussus Benson

Orussus Latreille

Pedicrista Benson

Distribution

Worldwide, with greatest species richness in Africa. Species usually rare.

Biology

Parasitoids of wood-boring Coleoptera and Hymenoptera larvae.

References

Goulet, H. 1993. Superfamilies Cephoidea, Megalodontoidea, Orussoidea, Siricoidea, Tenthredinoidea and Xyeloidea (pp. 101-129). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.

Vilhelmsen, L. 2001. Systematic revision of the genera Chalinus Konow, 1897 and Mocsarya Konow, 1897 (Hymenoptera, Orussidae). Insect Systematics & Evolution 32: 361-380.

Vilhelmsen, L. 2003. Phylogeny and classification of the Orussidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera), a basal parasitic wasp taxon. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 139: 337-418.

Vilhelmsen, L. 2004. The old wasp and the tree: fossils, phylogeny and biogeography in the Orussidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 82: 139-160.

Credits

Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

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