Family EUCHARITIDAE

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Introduction

The Eucharitidae are a relatively small family and are infrequently collected. They appear to be most closely related to Perilampidae. Both these families have a free-living, mobile first instar larva, or planidium. The family is characterised by the pronotum being small and invisible in dorsal view, the thorax dorsally vaulted in lateral view, the metasoma distinctly petiolate, and the scutellum often armed with a pair of conspicuous backwards-projecting forked processes.

Eucharitids are all parasitoids of ants (except for the aberrant subfamily Echthrodapinae that parasitise twig-nesting bees), and their biology is rather unusual. Eggs are laid in very large numbers (up to 15,000) on vegetation. The first instar larvae are actively moving planidia. They attach themselves to passing ants and are carried back to the ants nest. Once inside the nest, the planidia actively search out ant larvae upon which they feed. Males can often be found swarming around the openings of ant nests waiting for the newly emerged females to leave the nest. Keys to Australasian genera are included in Boucek (1988), while Heraty (2002) provides keys to world genera of Eucharitidae.

Jennings & Austin (2015) list one unidentified species from Lord Howe Island in the Australian Museum.

General References

Bouček, Z. 1988. Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). A biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. London : CAB International 832 pp.

Heraty, J.M. 2002. A revision of the genera of Eucharitidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) of the world. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 68: 1-367

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