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Thynnidae

Flower wasps of the Afrotropical region

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

Classification

Distribution

Worldwide.

Biology

Parasitoids of subterranean or wood-boring beetle larvae (Scarabaeidae, Cerambycidae, Cicindelidae, Tenebrionidae). The female stings each larva before laying an egg on it.

Diversity

About 1000 described species in 53 genera  (Aguiar et al 2013; Branstetter et al 2018).

Comments

The re-classification of the Vespoidea into a number of superfamilies proposed by Pilgrim et al. (2008) and adopted by Peters et al. (2017) and Branstetter et al. (2018) has not been followed here yet, for reasons outlined in Brothers (2019). The exception is recognition of the family Thynnidae incorporating various taxa previously included in the Tiphiidae, a hypothesis that appears to have fairly robust support (albeit only based on molecular evidence), and recognition of which has been widely adopted across various platforms. We retain this newly proposed family together with the historically recognized families within the single superfamily Vespoidea, until such time that stronger phylogenetic evidence, based on both molecular as well as morphological appraisal, becomes available for supporting additional splitting at superfamily level within this group.

References

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Branstetter MG, Childers AK, Cox-Foster D, Hopper KR, Kapheim KM, Toth AL, Worley KC. 2018. Genomes of the Hymenoptera. Current Opinion in Insect Science 25: 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2017.11.008

Boni Bartalucci, M.B. 1997. Contribution to the knowledge of the Myzininae (Hymenoptera: Tiphiidae).  Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale "Giacomo Doria" 91: 615–639.

Boni Bartalucci, M.B. 2004. Tribe-groups of the Myzininae with special regard to the palaearctic taxa of the tribe Meriini (Hymenoptera, Tiphiidae). Linzer Biologische Beiträge 36: 1205–1308.

Boni Bartalucci, M.B. 2005. Anthoboscinae and Myzininae (Hymenoptera, Tiphiidae) from Madagascar. Linzer Biologische Beiträge 37: 1077–1097.

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Boni Bartalucci, M.B. 2007. The Afrotropical genera of the subtribe Meriina (Hymenoptera, Tiphiidae, Myzininae). Linzer Biologische Beiträge 39: 1257- 1305.

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Boni Bartalucci, M.B. 2013. Afrotropical taxa of the genus Mesa Saussure 1892 (Hymenoptera, Tiphiidae, Myzininae). Linzer Biologische Beiträge 45: 1657-1744.

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Jacot-Guillarmod, C. 1953.  Preliminary notes on African Tiphiidae (Hymenoptera). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London. Series B, Taxonomy, 22: 15–18. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3113.1953.tb00037.x

Jacot-Guillarmod, C. 1955. Contributions a l’étude de la faune entomologique du Ruanda-Urundi (Mission P. Basilewsky 1953) LXXV. Hymenoptera Tiphiidae. Ann. Mus. R. Congo Belge Tervuren (in 80, Sci. zool.) 40: 391–396.

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Credits

Photographs © Mike Picker & Charles Griffiths (University of Cape Town) (published in Struik's Field Guide to Insects of South Africa). Photographs of pinned specimens © Lynn Kimsey (Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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