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| Ichneumonoidea | |
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| Megarhyssa macrurus female | |
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| Superfamily: | Ichneumonoidea Latreille, 1802 |
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The Ichneumonoidea are parasitoid wasps. They are a superfamily in the suborder Apocrita.
The superfamily is made up of the ichneumon wasps, (family Ichneumonidae), and the braconids (family Braconidae). The superfamily contains well over 80,000 different species. Members of the family Ichneumonidae are usually larger than members of the Braconidae, and the family has three times as many species as the braconids. The two families are distinguished mainly by details of wing venation.
Almost all are solitary insects, and most are parasitoids—the larvae feeding on or in another insect which finally dies. Being in the same order, ichneumonoids are closely related to other hymenoptera such as ants and bees. Many species in both families use polydnaviruses (with double strand DNA) to suppress the immune system of the host insect.
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