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.
General References
Naumann, I.D. 1987. A new megalyrid (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae) parasitic on a sphecid wasp in Australia. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 26: 215-222
Naumann, I.D. 1991. Hymenoptera (Wasps, bees, ants, sawflies). pp. 916-1000 in CSIRO (ed). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Carlton : Melbourne University Press.
Shaw, S.R. 1990. A taxonomic revision of the long-tailed wasps of the genus Megalyra Westwood (Hymenoptera: Megalyridae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 3: 1005-1052
Shaw, S.R. 1990. Phylogeny and biogeography of the parasitoid wasp family Megalyridae (Hymenoptera). Journal of Biogeography 17: 569-581
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |