Distribution

Afrotropical and Oriental regions.

Diversity

Globally 50 species in 4 genera (Brothers & Finnamore, 1993).

Biology

Ectoparasitoids of larvae or pupa of other insects. Species exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism with phoretic copulation (Brothers & Finnamore, 1993).

Reference

Brothers, D.J. & Finnamore A.T. 1993. Superfamily Vespoidea pp. 161-278.. In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. eds.. Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.

Brothers DJ, Lelej AS 2017. Phylogeny and higher classification of Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) based on morphological reanalyses. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 60: 1-97. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.60.20091

Waldren, G.C., Sadler, E.A., Murray, E.A., Bossert, S., Danforth, B.N. & Pitts, J.P. 2023.
Phylogenomic inference of the higher classification of velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae). Systematic Entomology 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12588

Credits

Photographs © Denis Brothers (University of Kwazulu-Natal).