Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

Museums

Regional Maps

Family MEGALYRIDAE


Compiler and date details

N.B. Stevens & A.D. Austin, Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity and the Department of Applied and Molecular Ecology, Waite Campus, Adelaide University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Introduction

This famliy of small (2.5 mm) to very large (100 mm) wasps is most diverse in Australia, with 22 species described in the genus Megalyra (Shaw 1990a). Megalyrids were previously recorded only as parasitoids of immature stages of wood-boring Coleoptera, but one species is now known to parasitise sphecid wasp larvae in northern Australia (Naumann 1987, 1991). Members of the family are not commonly collected, but are sometimes seen walking on tree trunks or limbs searching for beetle tunnels.

Shaw (1990b) proposed a tribal classification for the eight extant and three extinct genera, but largely this does not apply to the Australian fauna which is represented only by a single genus.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
12-Feb-2010 (import)