Torymidae is a family of

wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Most species in this family are small with attractive metallic coloration, and females generally have long ovipositors. Many are

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

s on

gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

-forming insects, and some are

phytophagous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

(plant-eating) species, sometimes using the galls formed by other insects. Over 960 species in about 70 genera are found worldwide. They are best recognized in that they are one of the few groups of

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 ...

in which the cerci are visible. Torymus female

Systematics

The family was first described by Walker in 1833 and the infrafamiliar classification has been revised several times. A number of subfamilies were created within Torymidae, some of which have since been transferred to other families ( Idarninae, Sycophaginae, Epichrysomallinae, and Ormyrinae), leaving the family with up to six subfamilies, although as few as two in other classifications. * Megastigminae * Monodontomerinae * Toryminae * Podagrioninae * Erimerinae (=Microdontomerinae) * Thaumatoryminae A phylogenetic analysis in 2018 found that Torymidae as then circumscribed was not monophyletic. The subfamily Megastigminae recovered outside the clades contain the other subfamilies and elevated to family Megastignidae in a taxonomic revision. The subfamilies and tribes of Torymidae were also revised.

References

* Grissell, E.E., 1995. Toryminae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Torymidae): a redefinition, generic classification and annotated world catalogue of species.'' Memoirs on Entomology, International'' 2:474pp.

External links

*
Universal Chalcidoidea Database

Bug Guide

on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site Chalcidoidea Apocrita families Biological pest control wasps {{Chalcidoidea-stub