About

Biology

All species develop as parasites on various other insects. They are predominantly solitary (few species gregarious in nature), primary endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera and Diptera, though a few species attack Hymenoptera, Coleoptera (mainly Chrysomelidae), and Neuroptera. Some tropical species are ectoparasitoids. One extralimital Hockeria was reared from a free-living Strepsiptera. Certain species (including some tropical species of Conura) may be hyperparasitic, some others only occasionally so (facultative hyperparasites). Hyperparasitic species mainly fall under genera - Antrocephalus, Proconura, Notaspidiella, and Brachymeria.

Some species specific groups also prevail, for instance species of Uga parasitize epilachnine beetle (Coccinelllidae), Lasiochalcidia - antlion larvae, Dirhinus - brachycerous Diptera, Chalcis - Stratiomyiidae (Diptera), Smicromorpha - Oecophylla ants etc. (Bouček, 1988).

Distribution

Worldwide, with few species in the cold regions. The family currently includes 87 genera and 1464 species placed in 5 subfamilies as follows: Chalcidinae (25/767), Dirhininae (3/65), Epitraninae (1/64), Haltichellinae (55/560), Smicromorphinae (1/6), unplaced (2/2).

The Indian fauna consists of 220 species under 30 genera (Noyes, 2016 Universal Chalcidoidea Database ).

References

  • Bouček, Z. 1952. The first revision of the European species of the family Chalcididae (Hymenoptera). Sb. ent. Odd. n r. Mus. Praze 27(supplement 1):1-108, 17 plates.
  • Bouček, Z. 1988. Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). A biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. :832pp. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, U.K., Cambrian News Ltd; Aberystwyth, Wales.
  • Bouček, Z. & Narendran, T.C. 1981. Indian chalcid wasps (Hymenoptera) of the genus Dirhinus parasitic on synanthropic and other Diptera. Systematic Entomology 6:229-251.
  • Bouček, Z. & Delvare, G. 1992. On the New World Chalcididae (Hymenoptera). (Several different papers.) Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 53:iv+466pp.
  • Ferrière, C. & Kerrich, G.J. 1958. Hymenoptera 2. Chalcidoidea. Section (a) Agaontidae, Leucospidae, Chalcididae, Eucharitidae, Perilampidae, Cleonymidae and Thysanidae. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 8(2)(a):40pp, 79 figs, 5 Plates.
  • Latreille, P. 1817. Les CrustacFs, les Arachnides et les Insects. Vol. 3, xxix + 653 pp., in Cuvier, Le RGgne Animal.-Paris.
  • Narendran, T.C. 1989. Oriental Chalcididae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). 439pp. University of Calicut, Kerala, India.
  • Noyes, J.S. 2016. Universal Chalcidoidea Database. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/chalcidoids (accessed on 28/9/2016).
  • Walker, F. 1834. Monographia Chalciditum (continued). Entomological Magazine 2, 13-39, 147-180,285-310,340-369.