The Tetracampidae are a small family of

parasitic wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causi ...

s in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. They are parasitoids of

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 ...

insects, primarily

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

. The 44 species in 15 genera are almost entirely absent from the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

. The biology of most species of Tetracampidae is little studied. Most of those whose hosts are known are associated with insects that mine in plants. European species of one genus, '' Dipriocampe'', are endoparasitoids of the eggs of diprionid sawflies, and the British species of '' Foersterella'' are endoparasitoids of the eggs of '' Cassida'' spp. (Coleoptera, Cassididae). One species, '' Dipriocampe diprioni'', was introduced into Canada from Europe for the biological control of diprionid pests, but did not become established. In Africa and Madagascar, members of this family are egg parasitoids of beetles (Chrysomelidae) and wasps (Diprionidae), or larval parasitoids of flies (Agromyzidae). Numerous fossil taxa are in this group, but their relationships to other chalcidoid families remain obscure.

References

External links

Universal Chalcidoidea Database
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Bugguide.net
Chalcidoidea Apocrita families Taxa named by Arnold Förster {{Chalcidoidea-stub