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Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants.Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, [2] [3] in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. [4]
Apocrita, wasps in the broad sense, appeared in the Jurassic, and had diversified into many of the extant superfamilies by the Cretaceous; they appear to have evolved from the Symphyta. [4] Fig wasps with modern anatomical features first appeared in the Lower Cretaceous of the Crato Formation in Brazil, some 65 million years before the first ...
The smaller species may have only two or three hamuli on each side, but the largest wasps may have a considerable number, keeping the wings gripped together especially tightly. Hymenopteran wings have relatively few veins compared with many other insects, especially in the smaller species.
Chalcidoid wasps are small wasps (most within the range 0.5–5 mm). However the group does include the smallest known insect (Dicopomorpha echmepterygis males have a body length of 0.14–0.24 mm); the largest chalcidoids include Leucospis gigas with a body length of up to 21 mm [2] and Doddifoenus wallacei with a body length of up to 19.6 mm. [3]
Most figs (more than 600 species) have syconia that contain three types of flowers: male, short female, and long female. Female fig wasps can reach the ovaries of short female flowers with their ovipositors, but not long female flowers. Thus, the short female flowers grow wasps, and the long flowers only seeds.
Most species are macropterous (having long wings), but a few brachypterous (short-winged) and apterous (no wings) species are known. [3] Spider wasps are best distinguished from other vespoid wasps in having (in most species) a transverse groove bisecting the mesopleuron (the mesepisternal sclerite, a region on the side of middle segment of the ...
Vespoid wasp females have antennae with 10 flagellomeres, while males have 11 flagellomeres. The edge of the pronotum reaches or passes the tegula. Many species display some level of sexual dimorphism. Most species have fully developed wings, but some have reduced or absent wings in one or both sexes.
The more advanced groups making up the Neoptera have foldable wings, and their muscles act on the thorax wall and power the wings indirectly. [ 1 ] : 22–24 These muscles can contract multiple times for each single nerve impulse, allowing the wings to beat faster than would ordinarily be possible.