The Sapygidae are a family of solitary
kleptoparasitic
Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when f ...
aculeate
wasp
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. ...
s. They are generally black wasps, similar in appearance to some
Tiphiidae
The Tiphiidae (also known as the tiphiid wasps) are a family of large, solitary wasps whose larvae are parasitoids of various beetle larvae, especially those in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea. Until recently, this family contained several addition ...
or
Thynnidae
The Thynnidae (also known as thynnid wasps or flower wasps) are a family of large, solitary wasps whose larvae are almost universally parasitoids of various beetle larvae, especially those in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea. Until recently, the co ...
, with white or yellow markings developed to various degrees.
The female oviposits her eggs into the nests of solitary
bees, and the developing
larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e consume both the host larvae and the supply of food provided for them.
The Sapygidae are a small family with only about 80 species described, and they are not of major economic importance. However, some of their host species are important pollinators, and it may sometimes be necessary to control the level of predation on them.
Fossil sapygids have been found in mid-Cretaceous amber in Myanmar
and Upper
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
Baltic
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In ...
.
File:Sapyga centrata on flower.jpg, '' Sapyga centrata''
File:Monosapyga clavicornis-pjt2.jpg, '' Monosapyga clavicornis''
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q573579
Apocrita families