The Perilampidae are a small

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

within the

Chalcidoidea Chalcid wasps (, , for their metallic colour) are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, me ...

, composed mostly of

hyperparasitoid A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two o ...

s. The family is closely related to the

Eucharitidae The Eucharitidae are a family of parasitic wasps.Ayre, G.L. Pseudometagea schwarzii (Ashm.) (Eucharitidae: Hymenoptera), a parasite of Lasius neoniger Emery (Formicidae: Hymenoptera). Canadian Journal of Zoology 40 (1962) : 157-164. Eucharitid ...

, and the eucharitids appear to have evolved from within the Perilampidae, thus rendering the family

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

(if the two families are joined in the future, the name with precedence is Eucharitidae). As presently defined, at least 15 genera and 270 species are described worldwide. They are often brilliantly metallic (especially blue or green), with robust

mesosoma The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs, and, in the case of winged insects, the wings. In hymenopterans of t ...

e and a small, triangular

metasoma The metasoma is the posterior part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the mesosoma. In insects, it contains most of the digestive tract, respiratory system, and circula ...

e (swollen and bulbous in the Philomidinae). They are generally very strongly sculptured. The

prothorax The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

is typically very broad and disc-like, and the labrum is multidigitate, a feature shared with the Eucharitidae. Another feature shared by the Eucharitidae and Perilampidae is the first-instar larvae are called "

planidia A planidium is a specialized form of insect larva seen in the first-instar of a few families of insects that have parasitoidal ways of life. They are usually flattened, highly Sclerotization, sclerotized (hardened), and quite mobile. The functi ...

" and are responsible for gaining access to the host, rather than the egg-laying females. Those species which are hyperparasitoids burrow into a secondary host's body and seek out

endoparasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitis ...

larvae, such as

tachinid flies The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family ...

or ichneumonoid wasps, and attack them.

Genera

These 17 genera belong to the family Perilampidae: * '' Aperilampus'' Walker, 1871^{c g} * '' Austrotoxeuma'' Girault, 1929^{c g} * '' Brachyelatus'' Hoffer & Novicky, 1954^{c g} * '' Burksilampus'' Boucek, 1978^{c g} * ''

Chrysolampus ''Chrysolampus'' is a genus of chalcid wasps. Species * '' Chrysolampus aeneicornis'' Ratzeburg, 1852 * '' Chrysolampus aeneicorpus'' (Girault, 1915) * '' Chrysolampus anguliventris'' Nees 1834 * '' Chrysolampus attenuatus'' Förster, 1841 * ...

'' Spinola, 1811^{c g} * '' Chrysomalla'' Forster, 1859^{c g} * '' Elatomorpha'' Zerova, 1970^{c g} * ''

Euperilampus ''Euperilampus'' is a genus of chalcid wasps in the family Perilampidae. There are about 18 described species in ''Euperilampus''. Species These 18 species belong to the genus ''Euperilampus'': * '' Euperilampus ameca'' Darling, 1983 * '' Euper ...

'' Walker, 1871^{c g b} * ''

Jambiya A jambiya, also spelled janbiya, jambya, jambia and janbia ( ar, جنۢبية ''janbīyah''), is a specific type of dagger with a short curved blade with a medial ridge that originated from the Hadhramaut region of Yemen. They have spread all ov ...

'' Heraty & Darling, 2007 * '' Krombeinius'' Boucek, 1978^{c g} * '' Monacon'' Waterston, 1922^{c g} * '' Parelatus'' Girault, 1916^{c g} * '' Perilampus'' Latreille, 1809^{i c g b} * '' Philomides'' Haliday, 1862^{c g} * '' Sericops'' Kriechbaumer, 1894^{c g} * '' Sinoperilampites'' Hong, 2002^g * '' Steffanolampus'' Peck, 1974^{c g} Perilampidae and Aphis nerii

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

References

External links

Universal Chalcidoidea Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1130408 Chalcidoidea Apocrita families