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41 Orders of Insects: Hymenoptera

photo of the giant wood moth parasitoid wasp (Hymenoptera)
Giant Wood Moth Parasitoid Wasp (Virgulibracon endoxylaphagus), St. Lucia, QLD [Photograph by Jessa Thurman. Used with permission].

 

Cladogram with Hymenoptera highlighted
Cladogram highlighting Hymenoptera [Adapted from Gullan, P. J., & Cranston, P. S. (2014). The insects : an outline of entomology (5th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell].

Order Hymenoptera: Wasps, bees, ants and sawflies

Hymenoptera

  • common names: bees, wasps, ants, sawflies
  • from Greek: hymen = membrane; ptera = wings
  • a large and diverse Order; estimated 150,000 species worldwide; over 14,000 species in Australia, about 30%  are ants
  • behaviour highly evolved and complex; ecological specialists; a very beneficial order of insects
  • found in most terrestrial habitats, esp. near flowering plants
  • many species are parasitoids; most effective natural enemies in applied biological control
  • feed on a wide range of foods:
    • phytophagous – e.g. sawflies and some wasps
    • parasites of other invertebrates – e.g. parasitic wasps
    • predators – e.g. ants, spider wasps, paper wasps
    • many wasps & bees feed on nectar as adults
    • generalists, e.g. ants
  • some are eusocial e.g. ants, bees, some paper wasps
  • pollination by honeybees (domestic species) and wild bees value  billions of $$ annually

Two suborders:

  • Symphyta – abdomen broadly attached to thorax; most called sawflies (females have a saw-like ovipositor)
  • Apocrita – abdomen constricted between segments 1 and 2 to form a “waist”; ants, bees and wasps
Bees clustered on a stem
Native bee males (Lipotriches sp.) cluster together on a grass stem [Photograph by Lyn Cook. Shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence].

Characteristics of Hymenoptera

Adults

  • very small to large
  • mandibulate mouthparts; maxillae and labium are modified in bees to form a proboscis for uptake of nectar
  • variable: large compound eyes in most, but sometimes reduced or no eyes; ocelli often present; antennae multi-segmented, often long and held forward; ‘elbowed’ in ants 
  • most have two pairs of membranous wings with simple venation; forewings larger; fore and hind wings coupled together by hooks on hind wing (hamuli); some wingless, e.g. some female wasps and ants
  • thorax either three-segmented OR forms a mesosoma by incorporation of first abdominal segment in which case the abdomen is petiolate (waisted)
  • a stinger (ovipositor) present in some at the tip of abdomen

Immatures

  • very variable: many lack legs completely; all have distinct mandibles even if head is reduced
Photo of green tree ants
Green tree ants [Photo: Some green tree ants by James Niland, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons].

Notes

Sawflies

Family Pergidae are the sawflies whose larvae are commonly found in aggregations on eucalyptus. They are called spitfires because they spit drops of eucalyptus oil when disturbed.

Photo of melaleuca sawfly (adult)
A Melaleuca sawfly (Hymenoptera: Symphyta). [Photo: Melaleuca sawfly by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos, CC BY-NC 4.0, Wikimedia Commons].
Photo of a group of spitfire caterpillars
Sawfly larvae (Hymenoptera: Symphyta) at Girraween National Park [Photo: D. Merritt © University of Queensland, shared under a CC BY-NC SA 4.0 licence].

Fairy wasps in the family Mymaridae are some of the tiniest insects–most are egg parasitoids, laying their eggs into the eggs of other insects.

Photo of a small wasp, Mymaridae
A tiny wasp in the family Mymaridae [Photo: Mymar pulchellum Curtis, 1832 by Koorosh McCormack, CC BY 2.0, Flickr].

Topic Review

Do you know…?

  • the main anatomical features of Hymenoptera
  • the economic importance of Hymenoptera

Licence

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