58 Strepsiptera
Strepsiptera
The last of the small neuropteroid orders that you should know is the Strepsiptera, also known as the twisted-winged parasites. This entire order is endoparasitic in other insects, including throughout most of their adult lives. Very young larvae and males are the only free-living life stages. Most parasitize Hymenoptera, but a few parasitize cockroaches and some other insects. The adult female is larva-like, and protrudes from between the sclerites of the host. The male is winged, but has only a single pair of wings. The forewings are reduced and resemble the halteres of Diptera. The male’s eye is not compound; instead, there is a cluster of eyes resembling a blackberry.
We do not have any Strepsiptera in the collection at UNBC.
Duane D. McKenna , Brian D. Farrell, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Specimen ID: 0358
Sex: Female
Size: 6 mm
Collection Location: USA, WI, Bayfield County. Apostle Islands National Lake Shore. Boreal woodland along Mawike Road. WGS84 46.8874N/-91.0408W
Plot: AI-3
Collection Date: 1-Aug-2014
Collector: Brick M. Fevold
Halictidae; Halictinae; Halictini; Lasioglossum cf. subgenus Dialictus. Twisted-wing parasite (Order Strepsiptera) between metasomal tergites 4 and 5. No other Strepsiptera observed in 2013-2014 bee/wasp samples. Detail of Strepsipteran (4). Branched setae, characteristic of bees, are also visible on the abdomen.
maxson.erin, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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