Lyciscidae
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| Lyciscidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Thaumasura sp. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Superfamily: | Chalcidoidea |
| Family: | Lyciscidae Bouček, 1958 |
| Subfamilies | |
Lyciscidae is a family of chalcid wasps.[1] The genera comprising this family were previously placed in the Cleonyminae subfamily of a paraphyletic Pteromalidae.[2]
Many species have metallic green, blue and bronze colours, and stout hind legs and fore legs. The females of most species have a tapered abdomen and a long ovipositor suited to accessing hosts concealed in wood; they are often encountered on trunks or branches of trees. Many are parasitoids of wood-boring beetles of the families Buprestidae (jewel beetles), Cerambycidae (longhorn beetles), and Curculionidae (weevils). However, some Agamerion species are parasitoids of cockroach egg masses, Epistenia species parasitize twig-nesting aculeate wasps and bees, and Marxiana grandiosa is a hyperparasite of braconid wasps (which are, in turn, parasitoids of wood-boring beetles).[3]
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