Stylopidae

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Stylopidae
Temporal range: Priabonian–Recent
Stylops childreni
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Strepsiptera
Family: Stylopidae
Kirby, 1813
Synonyms[1]
  • Hylecthridae Pierce, 1908

Stylopidae is a family of twisted-winged insects in the order Strepsiptera. There are about 15 genera and more than 330 described species in Stylopidae.[1][2][3]

Members of Stylopidae are parasitic insects. Host insects of this family that are afflicted are referred to as being "stylopized".[4]

Stylopidae are associated primarily with wasps and bees[3] but are known to also use members of Blattodea, Mantodea, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, and other Hymenoptera as hosts. Stylopized hosts often display a variety of physical and behavioral changes.[5]

Life cycle[edit]

As with others in the order Strepsiptera, Stylopidae larvae called triungulins enter their host and develop inside it. Females will remain inside the host. When females are ready to breed, they will push their head and brood canal opening, which is located just behind their head, out between the host insect's sclerites. Females draw males with pheromones who mate with them by means of the exposed brood canal. The eggs will hatch inside of their mother, and the larvae will feed on her body until it is time for them to exit through the brood canal and find their own hosts.[6]

Genera[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Stylopidae Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  2. ^ "Stylopidae". GBIF. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  3. ^ Salt, George; Bequaert, Joseph (1929). "Stylopized Vespidae". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 36 (3): 249–282. doi:10.1155/1929/78563.
  4. ^ "Stylopidia Host Relationships". tolweb.org. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  5. ^ Will, Kip; Gross, Joyce; Rubinoff, Daniel; Powell, Jerry A. (2020). Field Guide to California Insects. Oakland, California: University of California Press. pp. 188–189. ISBN 9780520288744.
  6. ^ R. Kulicka. 2001. New genera and species of Strepsiptera from the Baltic amber. Prace Muzeum Ziemi 46:3-16