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Hymenoptera is one of the larger order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
s of insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s, comprising the sawflies
Sawfly

Sawfly is the common name for is an insect in the order Hymenoptera, suborder Symphyta.Sawflies are distinguishable from most other Hymenoptera by the broad connection between the abdomen and the thorax , and the caterpillar-like larvae ....
, wasp
WAsP

WAsP is a PC program for predicting wind climates, wind resources, and power productions from wind turbines and wind farms. The predictions are based on wind data measured at stations in the same region....
s, bee
Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
s, and ant
Ant

Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
s. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek
Ancient greek language

#REDIRECT Ancient Greek...
 ?µ?? (humen): membrane and pte??? (pteron): wing. The hindwings
Insect wing

Insect wings are outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to Insect flight. They are found on the second and third thorax segments , and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwings, respectively, though a few insects lack hindwings, even rudiments....
 are connected to the forewings
Insect wing

Insect wings are outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to Insect flight. They are found on the second and third thorax segments , and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwings, respectively, though a few insects lack hindwings, even rudiments....
 by a series of hooks called hamuli.

Females typically have a special ovipositor
Ovipositor

The ovipositor is an organ used by some animals for oviposition, i.e. the laying of Egg . It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly....
 for inserting eggs into hosts or otherwise inaccessible places. The ovipositor is often modified into a stinger
Stinger (organ)

A stinger is a common term for a sharp Organ or body part found in various animals or plants that usually delivers some kind of venom . A poisonous sting differs from other piercing organs in that it pierces by its own action, as opposed to teeth, which pierce by the force of jaws, or spine s, which pierce by the action of the victim....
.






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Hymenoptera is one of the larger order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
s of insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s, comprising the sawflies
Sawfly

Sawfly is the common name for is an insect in the order Hymenoptera, suborder Symphyta.Sawflies are distinguishable from most other Hymenoptera by the broad connection between the abdomen and the thorax , and the caterpillar-like larvae ....
, wasp
WAsP

WAsP is a PC program for predicting wind climates, wind resources, and power productions from wind turbines and wind farms. The predictions are based on wind data measured at stations in the same region....
s, bee
Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
s, and ant
Ant

Ants are Eusociality insects of the family Formicidae, and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolution from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and Evolutionary radiation after the rise of flowering plants....
s. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek
Ancient greek language

#REDIRECT Ancient Greek...
 ?µ?? (humen): membrane and pte??? (pteron): wing. The hindwings
Insect wing

Insect wings are outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to Insect flight. They are found on the second and third thorax segments , and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwings, respectively, though a few insects lack hindwings, even rudiments....
 are connected to the forewings
Insect wing

Insect wings are outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to Insect flight. They are found on the second and third thorax segments , and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwings, respectively, though a few insects lack hindwings, even rudiments....
 by a series of hooks called hamuli.

Females typically have a special ovipositor
Ovipositor

The ovipositor is an organ used by some animals for oviposition, i.e. the laying of Egg . It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly....
 for inserting eggs into hosts or otherwise inaccessible places. The ovipositor is often modified into a stinger
Stinger (organ)

A stinger is a common term for a sharp Organ or body part found in various animals or plants that usually delivers some kind of venom . A poisonous sting differs from other piercing organs in that it pierces by its own action, as opposed to teeth, which pierce by the force of jaws, or spine s, which pierce by the action of the victim....
. The young develop through complete metamorphosis — that is, they have a worm-like larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature (See holometabolism
Holometabolism

Holometabolism, also called complete Metamorphosis , is a term applied to insect groups to describe the specific kind of insect development which includes four life stages - as an embryo, a larva, a pupa and an imago....
).

Evolution

Hymenoptera originated in the Triassic
Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 annum . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic....
, the oldest fossils belonging to the family Xyelidae
Xyelidae

The Xyelidae is a small family of sawflies known from fewer than 50 Extant taxon species in 5 genera, but with an extensive fossil record; they are the oldest fossil Hymenoptera, dating back to the Triassic, some 200 million years ago....
. Social hymenopterans appeared during the Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
. The evolution of this group has been intensively studied by A. Rasnitsyn
Alex Rasnitsyn

Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn is one of the world's leading experts in palaeoentomology. His scientific interests are centered on the palaeontology, phylogeny, and taxonomy of the hymenopteran insects and of the insects in general....
, M. S. Engel
Michael S. Engel

Michael S. Engel is a paleontologist and entomologist. He has undertaken field work in Central Asia, Asia Minor, and the Western Hemisphere, and published more than 245 papers in scientific journals....
, G. Dlussky, and others.

Sex determination

Among the hymenopterans, sex is determined
Sex-determination system

A sex-determination system is a biology system that determines the development of sex in an organism. Most sexual organisms have two sexes. In many cases, sex determination is genetic: males and females have different alleles or even different genes that specify their sexual Comparative anatomy....
 by the number of chromosome
Chromosome

A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein that is found in Cell . A chromosome is a single piece of DNA that contains many genes, regulatory sequence and other genetic sequence....
s an individual possesses. Fertilized eggs get two sets of chromosomes (one from each parent's respective gamete
Gamete

A gamete is a Cell that fuses with another gamete during fertilization in organisms that sexual reproduction. In species which produce two morphologically distinct types of gametes, and in which each individual produces only one type, a female is any individual which produces the larger type of gamete?called an ovum ?and a male produces th...
s), and so develop into diploid females, while unfertilized eggs only contain one set (from the mother), and so develop into haploid males; the act of fertilization is under the voluntary control of the egg-laying female. This phenomenon is called haplodiploidy. Note, however, that the actual genetic mechanisms of haplodiploid sex determination may be more complex than simple chromosome number. In many Hymenoptera, sex is actually determined by a single gene locus with many alleles. In these species, haploids are male and diploids heterozygous at the sex locus are female, but occasionally a diploid will be homozygous at the sex locus and develop as a male instead. This is especially likely to occur in an individual whose parents were siblings or other close relatives. Diploid males are known to be produced by inbreeding in many ant, bee and wasp species.

One consequence of haplodiploidy is that females on average actually have more genes in common with their sisters than they do with their own daughters. Because of this, cooperation among kindred females may be unusually advantageous, and has been hypothesized to contribute to the multiple origins of eusociality
Eusociality

Eusociality is a term used for the highest level of social organization in a hierarchical classification. The term "eusocial" was introduced in 1966 by Suzanne Batra and given a more definitive meaning by E....
 within this order.

Classification


Symphyta

The suborder Symphyta includes the sawflies, horntail
Horntail

Horntail or wood wasp is the common name for any of the 100 non-social species of the family Siricidae, of the order Hymenoptera, a type of xylophagous Symphyta....
s, and parasitic wood wasps
Orussidae

The family Orussidae is the only Symphytan group which is parasitoid, thus giving them the common name parasitic wood wasps. They are an ancient group, well-represented in the fossil record, and are believed to represent a sort of "missing link" within the order Hymenoptera, as they are often considered to be the sister taxon to the Apocrita...
. The group may be paraphyletic, as it has been suggested that the family Orussidae
Orussidae

The family Orussidae is the only Symphytan group which is parasitoid, thus giving them the common name parasitic wood wasps. They are an ancient group, well-represented in the fossil record, and are believed to represent a sort of "missing link" within the order Hymenoptera, as they are often considered to be the sister taxon to the Apocrita...
 may be the group from which the Apocrita arose. They have an unconstricted junction between the thorax and abdomen, and the larvae of free-living forms are herbivorous, have legs, proleg
Proleg

Prolegs are the fleshy, stubby little structures found on the ventral surface of the abdomen of most larvae forms of insects of the Order Lepidoptera, though they can also be found on other larval insects such as symphyta and a few types of Diptera....
s (on every segment, unlike Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
 (butterflies and moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
s)), and ocelli.

Apocrita

The wasps, bees, and ants together make up the suborder Apocrita
Apocrita

Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera.The Apocrita includes wasps, bees and ants, and consists of many families. It includes the most advanced Hymenoptera and is distinguished from the Symphyta by the narrow "waist" formed between the first two segments of the actual abdomen; the first abdominal segment is fused to the...
, characterized by a constriction between the first and second abdominal segments called a wasp-waist (petiole
Petiole (insect)

In entomology, the term petiole is most commonly used to refer to the constricted first metasomal segment of members of the Hymenopteran suborder Apocrita; it may be used to refer to other insects with similar body shapes, where the metasomal base is constricted....
), also involving the fusion of the first abdominal segment to the thorax
Thorax

The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.In mammals, the thorax is the region of the body formed by the sternum, the thoracic vertebrae and the ribs....
. Also, the larvae of all Apocrita do not have legs, prolegs, or ocelli.

External links

General
  • German and International
  • (German)
  • (UK)
  • (RU)


Systematics
  • Hymenoptera Online Database 1000+ images


Regional Lists
  • Afrotropical Hymenoptera Excellent images