Overview
Cynipoidea is a moderate-sized superfamily that presently includes five modern families and three extinct families, though others have been recognized in the past. The most familiar members of the group are phytophagous, especially as gall-formers, though the actual majority of included species are parasitoids or hyperparasitoids. They are typically glossy, dark, smooth wasps with somewhat compressed bodies and somewhat reduced wing venation. It is common for various metasomal segments to be fused in various ways (often diagnostic for families or subfamilies), and the petiole is very short, when present.
With the exception of the Cynipidae (the gall wasps), it is a poorly-known group as a whole, though there are nearly 3000 known species in total, and a great many species are still undescribed, mostly in the Figitidae. Each of the constituent families differs in biology, though life histories of one of the families (Liopteridae) are still largely unknown.
Photos
Taxonomy
The Superfamily Cynipoidea is a member of the Series Parasitica. Here is the complete "parentage" of Cynipoidea:
- Domain: Eukaryota
Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Animalia
Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
- Subkingdom: Bilateria
(Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
- Branch: Protostomia
Grobben, 1908 - protostomes
- Infrakingdom: Ecdysozoa
Aguinaldo Et Al., 1997 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - ecdysozoans
- Superphylum: Panarthropoda
Cuvier
- Phylum: Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829 - Arthropods
- Subphylum: Mandibulata
Snodgrass, 1938
- Infraphylum: Atelocerata
Heymons, 1901
- Superclass: Panhexapoda
- Class: Insecta
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Insects
- Subclass: Dicondylia
- Infraclass: Pterygota
- Winged Insects
- Superorder: Hymenopterida
- Order: Hymenoptera
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Ants, Bees, and Wasps
- Suborder: Apocrita
- Ants, Bees
- Superfamily: Cynipoidea Latreille, 1802
- Suborder: Apocrita
- Ants, Bees
- Order: Hymenoptera
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Ants, Bees, and Wasps
- Superorder: Hymenopterida
- Infraclass: Pterygota
- Winged Insects
- Subclass: Dicondylia
- Class: Insecta
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - Insects
- Superclass: Panhexapoda
- Infraphylum: Atelocerata
Heymons, 1901
- Subphylum: Mandibulata
Snodgrass, 1938
- Phylum: Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829 - Arthropods
- Superphylum: Panarthropoda
Cuvier
- Infrakingdom: Ecdysozoa
Aguinaldo Et Al., 1997 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - ecdysozoans
- Branch: Protostomia
Grobben, 1908 - protostomes
- Subkingdom: Bilateria
(Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
- Kingdom: Animalia
Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
The Superfamily Cynipoidea is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Family (9): Austrocynipidae · Cynipidae · Eucoilidae · Figitidae · Gerocynipidae · Ibaliidae · Liopteridae · Protimaspidae · Stolamissidae
Families
Austrocynipidae
Cynipidae
Gall wasps (Cynipidae), also called Gallflies, are a family of the order and are classified with the Apocrita suborder of wasps in the superfamily Cynipoidea. About 1300 species of this generally very small creature (1-8 millimeters) are known worldwide, with about 360 species of 36 different genera in Europe and some 800 species in North America. [more]
Eucoilidae
Figitidae
Figitidae is a family of tiny with a worldwide distribution. There are currently about 1400 described species in 126 genera although many taxa undoubtedly await discovery. In contrast to most cynipoids, which are gall-inducing phytophages, these insects are parasitoids, the larvae feeding internally on the larvae of other insects. Flies are the commonest hosts but Neuroptera and other Hymenoptera are also targeted by various species. [more]
Gerocynipidae
Ibaliidae
Liopteridae
Protimaspidae
Stolamissidae
More info about the Family Stolamissidae may be found here.
Sources
- The text on this page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It includes material from Wikipedia retrieved Thursday, August 13, 2009.
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