- Related Topics:
- wasp
- Apocrita
- Symphyta
- list of ants, bees, and wasps
- Polybia
Egg and larva
The eggs of parasitic forms are often attached to a surface by means of a pedicel, or stalk. In some forms, the pedicel may be five or six times the length of the egg itself.
The larva typically has a distinct head region, three thoracic segments, and usually nine or 10 abdominal segments. In the suborder Symphyta, the larvae are usually caterpillar-like. The head covering is especially tough and the mouthparts powerfully developed. There are usually three pairs of legs on the thorax and six or eight on the abdomen. Symphyta larvae that are wood borers or stem borers have no abdominal legs and the thoracic legs are smaller than those of nonborers.
With rare exceptions larvae of the suborder Apocrita have no legs and are maggotlike in form. The head covering is softer and thinner than in the Symphyta. In parasitic forms, the head is often greatly reduced and partially withdrawn into the prothorax (anterior part of the thorax). Sense organs appear to be poorly developed, with no ocelli, very small or absent antennae, and toothlike, sicklelike, or spinelike mandibles. In most Apocrita larvae the stomach is a blind sac until the final larval stage, when it opens into the intestine. The larvae of stinging forms (Aculeata) generally have 10 pairs of spiracles, or breathing pores, whereas parasitic forms usually have nine pairs present.
Pupa
In the Apocrita, the final stage, the prepupa, begins to show certain adult features such as wings and adult legs. The prothoracic segment has begun to distend because of the growing head. The first abdominal segment, or propodium, becomes part of the thorax. The pupa is exarate, meaning that the developing adult appendages (legs and wings) are separate from the body rather than molded into its surface.
A cocoon is usually formed. It may be parchmentlike in texture, made of soil particles, or, in stinging forms, a thin, silken lining within the larval cell. Certain ants form no cocoon whatever.
Special adaptations
A great variety of structural adaptations have evolved in hymenopterans, and several interesting ones will be discussed here. In worker bees, hairs on the tarsi of the forelegs are used to brush pollen from flowers. The tarsi of the forelegs and middle legs are used to brush pollen from hairs on the body of the bee. During the flight from one blossom to another, the collected pollen is passed to pollen-bearing organs, which vary among different kinds of bees.
Some primitive bees (e.g., in the families Colletidae and Halictidae) have masses of long hairs on the basal segments (coxae, trochanters, femurs) of the hind legs and on the undersurface of the abdomen. These hairs constitute the scopa, or pollen-bearing structure. In many colletids and halictids, the scopa is limited to the hind legs. In two subfamilies, Panurginae and Anthophorinae, the scopa is enlarged on the fourth segment (tibiae) of the hind legs and reduced or absent on the abdomen and on the basal leg segments. In the social bees, the scopa is limited to the outer sides of the hind tibiae, where it consists of long hairs surrounding a smooth area, the entire structure being called a pollen basket, or corbicula. In leaf-cutting bees (Megachilidae), the scopa is limited to the underside of the abdomen. In some colletids (Hyaleinae), the scopa is absent, and the pollen, mixed with nectar, is carried to the nest in the crop (anterior end of the digestive tract).
Special senses
Reproduction, the search for food, and, in the case of social species, coordinated group activity require highly developed sensory and orientative capability. In these respects the Hymenoptera are the most advanced of the insects.
Optical
It has been demonstrated that the eye of the bee is sensitive to ultraviolet radiation but is blind to red light. White flowers, which only partially reflect ultraviolet as a rule, appear colored to a bee. Certain color combinations, while invisible to the human eye, are not only visible but also may be of special interest to bees. In response to certain color combinations, they instinctively extend the proboscis (feeding organ) into the flower for nectar.
Some flowers that appear entirely yellow to the human eye reflect ultraviolet from the outer ends of the petals. Only the inner part, then, appears yellow to the bee, directing it to the nectar source.
The faceted compound eye of the insect is apparently unable to perceive forms in sharp outline, and it seems to be the patterns of flowers that attract bees rather than their geometric shapes. In addition, striking landmarks serve for orientation from the hive to the food source.
Chemical
Recognition of a member of the same species and colony and discovery of a mate and of the nest are largely determined by smell. Guards at the beehive entrance smell every bee who seeks to enter to determine if she belongs to the colony, because each colony has its own specific odor.
Ants use scent marks, which they place on their pathways. They are thus able to find their way back to the nest and direct other colony members to a food source. When danger threatens, ants, wasps, and bees secrete an alarm substance. This marks the place of danger and notifies other colony members to be on the alert.
During the nuptial flight of honeybees, the queen announces her presence to the drones by releasing a substance from her mandibular gland. If this secretion is obtained experimentally and sent aloft by means of a balloon, a swarm of drones will gather around it. A queen bee constantly identifies herself in the hive by means of the so-called queen substance, which also originates from the mandibular gland. This secretion, passed by certain workers in minute portions to all hive mates, inhibits ovary development in workers. It is also perceived by smelling and controls certain types of behavior. As long as the odor is present in the hive, the bees are unable to produce new queen cells. If the queen disappears or is weak, this substance is no longer produced or is produced in reduced amounts. At that time substitute queens are immediately produced from young larvae. The sense of smell is also essential to many parasitic forms in their search for a host. Some parasites can detect, chemically, whether another parasite has already laid an egg in an intended host. If such is the case, no egg will be deposited by the second visitor.
Mechanical
Nest building and mutual communication are aided in numerous ways by mechanical means of orientation. Wasp and bee nests, which have horizontal and vertical combs, as well as ant nests are designed with respect to gravity. Highly developed gravity-sensing organs have been found in bees and ants. Hair tufts on the neck and in the leg joints sense the response of the various body parts to gravity. In this way the individual parts of the body assist the organs of balance, and the brain is informed of each change in position. In ants the hair tufts on the basal antennae segment also are used for the perception of gravity.
Paleontology and classification
Evolution
According to S.I. Malyshev, a Soviet entomologist, the first hymenopterans appeared in the Mesozoic Era (252.2 million to 66 million years ago)—about the same time as the first butterflies, moths, and flies. It is his thesis that the Hymenoptera derived from the so-called Eumecoptera—ancestors of the modern scorpion fly (order Mecoptera), the first insects to undergo complete metamorphosis. Other experts fix the appearance of the first hymenopterans in the middle of the Jurassic Period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago). So-called protohymenopterans, found in Permian beds (250 million years old) in Kansas, have been regarded by some paleoentomologists as ancestral to the modern order. These resembled modern sawflies in having forewings and hindwings of about equal size and in lacking marginal hooklets for joining the two pairs.
True sawflies (Tenthredinoidea) also are known from the Jurassic Period. Because of the many longitudinal veins in the wings of these forms, some believe they share a common origin with cockroaches, which have wings that exhibit a similar vein pattern.
The earliest fossil ants date to about 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period. Fossil ants have been found in both Europe and North America, and some of them have been assigned to currently existing genera. Males, females, and workers were already clearly differentiated in ants at that time.
The first bees, according to the fossil record, were members of the family Melittidae that appeared roughly 100 million years ago. Since many of the flowering plants depend upon bees for pollination, it is believed that such plants and bees evolved at about the same time. The aculeates, or stinging Hymenoptera, were one of the most recent large groups of insects to evolve. By the Tertiary Period (66 million to 2.6 million years ago) both parasitic forms and aculeates had become abundant.
Classification
Annotated classification
Some disagreement on the taxonomic structure of the order Hymenoptera exists among systematists. For many years it was customary to separate the suborder Apocrita into two subdivisions: the stinging forms (Aculeata) and the parasitic forms (Parasitica). So many exceptions to such a dichotomy were encountered, however, that it has been generally discredited. Biologically, the basis for such a separation is slim. Many forms assigned to the Parasitica are phytophagous, and a number of the Aculeata are parasites. In the generic, or nontaxonomic, sense the term aculeate still applies to the stinging forms.
The classification given below is based on that of Borror and DeLong (1964), which, in turn, is essentially that of Muesebeck et al. (1951) and Krombein et al. (1958). It covers 71 families, of which 28 are relatively scarce.
- Order Hymenoptera (chalcids, ichneumons, sawflies, ants, wasps, and bees)
- One of the largest insect orders; over 115,000 described species; size range from about 0.21 mm (0.008 inch) to about 5 cm (2 in.) in length; usually 4 membranous wings, hind pair smaller than front pair; wings with relatively few veins; mouthparts modified for chewing or for chewing and sucking; in some forms, especially bees, certain mouthparts (labium and maxillae) form a structure for sucking liquid food; antennae usually with 10 or more segments; in higher forms the ovipositor is modified into a sting; complete metamorphosis; larvae usually maggotlike (i.e., legless); compound eyes large, usually 3 simple eyes (ocelli) present; worldwide in many types of habitat; many beneficial to humans, including those that pollinate flowers, make honey and beeswax, or parasitize insect pests; many forms have a complex social organization.
- Suborder Symphyta (sawflies and horntails)
- The oldest hymenopterans, Jurassic to present; all fliers. Larvae mostly plant eaters, usually caterpillar-like, with variable number of legs; some serious pests of trees and shrubs; in adults, thorax joined broadly to abdomen; ovipositor well-developed.
- Superfamily Megalodontoidea (primitive sawflies)
- A rather scarce group.
- Family Xyelidae (xyelid sawflies)
- Mostly less than 10 mm long; ovipositor long to very long; larvae feed on hickory, on elm, and on pine flowers.
- Family Pamphiliidae (web-spinning and leaf-rolling sawflies)
- Stout-bodied; usually shorter than 15 mm; ovipositor short. Larvae sometimes gregarious (living in groups) in rolled leaves or webs.
- Superfamily Tenthredinoidea (sawflies)
- Ovipositor sawlike in shape and function.
- Family Pergidae (pergid sawflies)
- Antennae six-segmented; larvae eat oak and hickory leaves.
- Family Argidae (argid sawflies)
- Stout-bodied; more than 400 species, distributed worldwide; mostly black or dark; larvae feed on various trees and herbs.
- Family Cimbicidae (cimbicid sawflies)
- Stout, often large and bumblebee-like; antennae clubbed; larvae often partly curled and covered with waxy powder.
- Family Diprionidae (conifer sawflies)
- Includes serious pests of conifers; 13 or more antennal segments.
- Family Tenthredinidae (typical sawflies)
- About 4,000 known species; adults wasplike, often brightly colored; usually shorter than 20 mm; larvae feed chiefly on leaves of trees and shrubs, some highly destructive.
- Superfamily Siricoidea (horntails and wood wasps)
- Mostly medium to large insects.
- Family Anaxyelidae (cedar wood wasps)
- In United States represented by 1 California species; larvae eat wood of incense cedar.
- Family Siricidae (horntails)
- Usually 2.5 cm or more in length; often black and yellow or metallic blue; female with long ovipositor; larvae wood borers, usually in trees past their prime.
- Family Xiphydriidae (wood wasps)
- About 12–20 mm long; larvae are borers in dead and decaying deciduous trees (those that annually lose leaves).
- Family Orussidae (parasitic wood wasps)
- A small, rare group; larvae parasitic on metallic wood-boring beetles (Buprestidae).
- Superfamily Cephoidea (stem sawflies)
- Contains one family, Cephidae.
- Family Cephidae (stem sawflies)
- Slender insects; larvae live in stems of grasses (including commercial grains) and berry plants; sometimes highly destructive; wheat-stem sawfly (Cephus cinctus) important wheat pest in Western U.S.
- Suborder Apocrita
- Abdomen and thorax separated by narrow “waist”; ovipositor adapted for piercing or stinging; many species with complex social organization; many forms carnivorous; larvae usually without legs, often parasitic; some species parthenogenetic.
- Superfamily Stephanoidea
- Family Stephanidae (stephanids)
- Rare insects parasitic on wood-boring beetles; about 100 species.
- Superfamily Ichneumonoidea (parasitic hymenopterans)
- Wasplike in appearance but seldom sting.
- Family Braconidae (braconids)
- A large group; some forms highly beneficial to humans by being parasitic on insect pests; mostly less than 15 mm long; many pupate in silk cocoons outside host’s body.
- Family Ichneumonidae (ichneumons)
- One of the largest of all insect families, about 4,000–5,000 species; hosts of these parasites include other insects, spiders, false scorpions; adults vary in size, color, shape; many resemble slender wasps; largest about 3.7 cm (about 1.5 in.) long; ovipositor may be twice as long as body and used to penetrate host’s tunnel in wood.
- Superfamily Chalcoidea (chalcids)
- A large, important group; chiefly found on flowers and foliage.
- Family Mymaridae (fairyflies)
- Mostly less than 1 mm long; smallest about 0.21 mm; all are parasites of eggs.
- Family Trichogrammatidae (trichogrammatids)
- About 0.3–1 mm long; egg parasites.
- Family Eulophidae (eulophids)
- A large group; adults 1–3 mm long; often with brilliant metallic colours; parasites on many crop pests.
- Family Elasmidae (elasmids)
- A small but widely distributed group; small and black; parasites on moths, butterflies, or on parasites of Lepidoptera.
- Family Signiphoridae
- Small, robust insects parasitic on scale insects, whiteflies (Homoptera), or other chalcids.
- Family Tanaostigmatidae (tanaostigmatids)
- Snout-beetle parasites.
- Family Encyrtidae (encyrtids)
- A large, widespread group, mostly 1–2 mm long; mostly parasitic on aphids, scale insects, whiteflies.
- Family Eupelmidae (eupelmids)
- A large group of parasites with wide host range, including Lepidoptera, beetles, spiders.
- Family Eucharitidae (eucharitids)
- Rather uncommon, medium-sized insects, usually black or metallic blue or green; mostly parasitic on ant pupae.
- Family Perilampidae (perilampids)
- Stout-bodied insects, often green or black; mostly hyperparasitic on Diptera and Hymenoptera that parasitize caterpillars.
- Family Agaonidae (fig insects)
- The Smyrna fig is pollinated only by fig insects; includes species with a remarkable degree of sexual dimorphism.
- Family Torymidae (torymids)
- Rather slender, metallic green. Length 2–4 mm; ovipositor long; includes parasites as well as plant-eating species.
- Family Ormyridae (ormyrids)
- A small group similar to torymids, but with short ovipositor.
- Family Pteromalidae (pteromalids)
- Largest group in superfamily; mostly black, metallic green, or bronze; parasitic, with wide range of hosts including crop pests.
- Family Chalcididae (chalcidids)
- Two to 7 mm long; parasitic on various Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera.
- Family Leucospidae (leucospids)
- Rather rare; usually black and yellow; parasites of wasps and bees.
- Superfamily Cynipoidea (gall wasps and relatives)
- Mostly small or minute gall-forming insects; usually black; some parasitic.
- Family Ibaliidae (ibaliids)
- Mostly 7–16 mm long; uncommon; parasites on horntails.
- Family Liopteridae (liopterids)
- Few species; rather large; rare.
- Family Figitidae (figitids)
- Parasitic on pupae of Diptera and lacewings (Neuroptera).
- Superfamily Proctotrupoidea (parasitic hymenopterans)
- All species parasitic on immature forms of other insects.
- Family Pelecinidae (pelecinids)
- Only 1 species in North America, Pelecinus polyturator, the female of which is about 5 cm long or more; parasitic on June-beetle larvae.
- Family Vanhorniidae (vanhorniids)
- In North America only 1 species, parasitic on larvae of false click beetles.
- Family Roproniidae (roproniids)
- Includes 3 North American species, all rare.
- Family Heloridae (helorids)
- In North America only 1 species, Helorus paradoxus, about 4 mm long, black; parasitic on lacewing larvae.
- Family Proctotrupidae (proctotrupids)
- Mostly 3-6 mm long; parasitic on beetle larvae.
- Family Ceraphronidae (ceraphronids)
- A rather large group; parasitic on braconids or chalcids that are parasitic on aphids or scale insects.
- Family Diapriidae (diapriids)
- Small black insects mostly parasitic on Diptera.
- Family Scelionidae (scelionids)
- Small insects parasitic on insect or spider eggs; some used to combat crop pests.
- Family Platygasteridae (platygasterids)
- Minute black insects; largest group in the superfamily; parasitic on gall midges, including the Hessian fly, a serious wheat pest.
- Superfamily Evanioidea
- Abdomen in all species is attached high above hind coxae; all species are parasites of arthropods.
- Family Aulacidae
- Similar to gas teruptiids; black and reddish abdomen; long antennae; and larvae are parasites of wood-boring beetles and xiphydriid wood wasps.
- Family Evaniidae (ensign wasps)
- A widely distributed group; all parasites of cockroach egg capsules; mostly 10–15 mm long; abdomen held high, thus the name ensign.
- Family Gasteruptiidae (gasteruptiids)
- Slender insects with ovipositor about same length as body; black, sometimes with red abdomen; rather scarce; parasites of solitary wasps and bees.
- Superfamily Chrysidoidea (parasitic hymenopterans)
- All rare except cuckoo wasps (Chrysididae).
- Family Chrysididae (cuckoo wasps)
- Brilliant metallic color, green, red, or blue; widely distributed; mostly less than 12 mm long; mostly parasites of wasp or bee larvae.
- Family Bethylidae (bethylids)
- Rare.
- Family Sclerogibbidae (sclerogibbids)
- Rare.
- Family Dryinidae (dryinids)
- Rare; most species exhibit marked sexual dimorphism.
- Family Trigonalidae (trigonalids)
- Rare.
- Superfamily Scolioidea (parasitic wasps and ants)
- Some families very similar to those of superfamily Vespoidea and are placed there by some authorities.
- Family Scoliidae (scoliid wasps)
- Large, hairy, black wasps often with a yellow band or bands on abdomen; parasites of scarab-beetle larvae.
- Superfamily Tiphioidea
- Hairy wasps with a well-developed sting; females of some species are wingless.
- Family Tiphiidae (tiphiid wasps)
- Medium-sized, black, hairy wasps; many parasitic on scarab beetles, including the destructive Japanese beetle.
- Family Sierolomorphidae (sierolomorphid wasps)
- Rare.
- Family Mutillidae (velvet ants)
- So called because the females are wingless, antlike, and covered with short, dense hairs; mostly brightly colored; mostly parasitic on larvae and pupae of wasps and bees.
- Family Sapygidae (sapygid wasps)
- Rare; parasitic on leaf-cutting bees.
- Superfamily Formicoidea
- All species are social. Generally only reproductive caste has wings. Females with a well-developed sting.
- Family Formicidae (ants)
- A large familiar group; worldwide distribution, but most common in tropics and subtropics; more than 10,000 species known; all social in habit; a few parasitic; some extreme polymorphism.
- Superfamily Vespoidea (vespoid wasps)
- Adults usually feed on nectar or sap; larvae eat spiders, other insects; antennae usually 12- or 13-segmented.
- Family Vespidae (paper wasps, potter wasps, and relatives)
- Solitary as well as social; includes the well-known yellow jackets and hornets; a widespread group including some large species; the queen of Vespula ducalis of Himalaya region reaches 4 cm in length and more than 8 cm in wingspread.
- Family Pompilidae (spider wasps)
- Distribution nearly worldwide; mostly dark-colored, with dusky wings; usually 12–25 mm long; some 75 mm long; larvae of most species feed on spiders.
- Family Rhopalosomatidae (rhopalosomatid wasps)
- Rare; parasitic on crickets.
- Superfamily Sphecoidea (sphecoid wasps)
- All species solitary.
- Family Sphecidae (sphecid wasps)
- A large group; adults most often found in flowers; most nest in wood, earth burrows, or in cells of mud.
- Superfamily Apoidea (bees)
- Distribution nearly worldwide; differ from most wasps in that larvae are usually fed pollen and honey rather than animal food; maxillae and labium form a “tongue” through which nectar is sucked.
- Family Colletidae (plasterer bees, yellow-faced bees)
- A primitive group; plasterer bees are earth burrowers; hairy, moderate in size; yellow-faced bees are small, nearly hairless, nest in crevices, plant stems, or in the earth.
- Family Adrenidae (mining bees)
- Nest in the ground; a large, widely distributed group.
- Family Halictidae (mining bees)
- Usually nest in the ground; often important in plant pollination; small to medium in size; often metallic in color.
- Family Melittidae (melittids)
- Rare; similar in habit to Andrenidae.
- Family Megachilidae (leaf-cutting bees)
- Medium-sized, stout insects; cut pieces from leaves to line cells in nest; some parasitic; includes so-called sweat bees that are attracted by human perspiration.
- Family Apidae (bumblebees, honeybees, and digger, or mining, bees)
- Social as well as solitary; important in flower pollination; the western honeybee, Apis mellifera in particular, is one of the few domesticated insects.
- Family Anthophoridae (cuckoo bees, carpenter bees)
- Solitary bees; nest in nests of other bees or create their own.
Critical appraisal
Among systematists in the United States the number of families assigned to the Hymenoptera is relatively moderate. European authorities tend to assign few families to the group (less than 20 according to some), while those of South America tend to assign more. As further information is gained about the behavior, physiology, and biochemistry of the Hymenoptera, it is probable that comparative studies will reveal unsuspected relationships within the order. As the fossil record also reveals new facts, it is inevitable that additional refinements to the present taxonomic scheme will occur.
Martin Lindauer