Ophioninae is a worldwide subfamily of

Ichneumonidae The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family (biology), family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 2 ...

with 32 genera, and very rich in tropical regions. They are koinobiont endoparasitoids of larval

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

, though at least one species parasitizes

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

(

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

). They are among the only

Parasitica Parasitica (the parasitican wasps) is an obsolete, paraphyletic infraorder of Apocrita containing the parasitoid wasps. It includes all Apocrita except for the Aculeata. Parasitica has more members as a group than both the Symphyta and the Acule ...

whose ovipositors can be used to sting vertebrates. The

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

e are ovoid with a central clear band characteristic for this subfamily. Ophionines are typically fairly large, orange, slender insects with compressed, curved abdomens. They have very large

ocelli A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-l ...

and are active at night, and may be commonly encountered at lights.

References

*Aubert, J.F. 1978. Les Ichneumonides ouest-palearctiques et leurs hotes 2. Banchinae et Suppl. aux Pimplinae. Laboratoire d'Evolution des Etres Organises, Paris & EDIFAT-OPIDA, Echauffour. *Townes, H. & M. Townes. 1978. Ichneumon-flies of America North of Mexico: 7. Subfamily Banchinae, tribes Lissonotini and Banchini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 26: 1-614.

External links

Waspweb
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1945193 Ichneumonidae