Tetracampidae
Encyclopedia
Tetracampidae is a small family of parasitic wasp
s in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. They are parasitoid
s of phytophagous insects, primarily flies
. There are 44 species in 15 genera, and they are almost entirely absent from the New World
.
There are numerous fossil taxa in this group, and their relationships to other chalcidoid families remain obscure.
Parasitic wasp
The term parasitoid wasp refers to a large evolutionary grade of hymenopteran superfamilies, mainly in the Apocrita. They are primarily parasitoids of other animals, mostly other arthropods...
s in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. They are parasitoid
Parasitoid
A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host organism in a relationship that is in essence parasitic; unlike a true parasite, however, it ultimately sterilises or kills, and sometimes consumes, the host...
s of phytophagous insects, primarily flies
Diptera
Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...
. There are 44 species in 15 genera, and they are almost entirely absent from the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
There are numerous fossil taxa in this group, and their relationships to other chalcidoid families remain obscure.