Rhyssinae Explained

Rhyssinae is a subfamily of parasitoid wasps in the family Ichneumonidae. It contains eight genera and 259 described species, but there are likely many undiscovered species.^{[1] [2]} All possess long ovipositors, which are used by females to bore into tree trunks to lay eggs on the larvae of horntails and wood-boring beetles.

Females in genus Megarhyssa show very long ovipositors, with M. atrata reaching 14 cm in length. ^[3]

Fossil record

The oldest reliable discovery of the subfamily in fossil form was made in a German Messel pit (Eocene, about 47 Ma).^[4]

Genera

The following genera belong to the subfamily Rhyssinae:

• Cyrtorhyssa Baltazar, 1961

^{i c g}

• Epirhyssa Cresson, 1865

^{i c g b}

• Lytarmes Cameron, 1899

^{i c g}

• Megarhyssa Ashmead, 1900

^{i c g b}

• Myllenyxis Baltazar, 1961

^{i c g}

• Rhyssa Gravenhorst, 1829

^{i c g b}

• Rhyssella Rohwer, 1920

^{i c g b}

• Triancyra Baltazar, 1961

^{i c g}Data sources: i = ITIS, c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.net

Further reading

• Book: Arnett . Ross H. Jr.. 2000. American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico. CRC Press. 2nd. 0-8493-0212-9.
• Web site: 2018-04-07. Krombein . Karl V.. Hurd Jr. . Paul D. Jr.. Smith . David R.. Burks . B.D.. 1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Majka . C.. 2009. Thomas L. Casey and Rhode Island. ZooKeys. 22. 267–283. 10.3897/zookeys.22.93. free. 2009ZooK...22..267M.

External links

Notes and References

1. Kim. Ki-Beom. Kang. Gyu-Won. Lee. Jong-Wook. 2018-03-01. Taxonomic review of the subfamily Rhyssinae Morley (Hymenoptera:Ichneumonidae) with seven newly recorded species from South Korea. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity. 11. 1. 123–131. 10.1016/j.japb.2017.11.005. 2287-884X. free.
2. Noort. Simon Van. Rousse. Pascal. 2014-07-25. A review of the Afrotropical Rhyssinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) with the descriptions of five new species. European Journal of Taxonomy. en. 91. 10.5852/ejt.2014.91. 2118-9773. free.
3. Le Lannic . Joseph . Nénon . J.-P. . 1999-10-18 . Functional morphology of the ovipositor in Megarhyssa atrata (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) and its penetration into wood . Zoomorphology . 119 . 2 . 73–79 . 10.1007/s004350050082 . 0720-213X.
4. Seraina Klopfstein . Sonja Wedmann . Tamara Spasojevic. 2018-06-06. 13. 6 . e0197477. PLOS ONE . Seven remarkable new fossil species of parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from the Eocene Messel Pit. 29874268. 5991363 . 2018PLoSO..1397477S. 10.1371/journal.pone.0197477. free. 1932-6203.