Suborder of insects containing wasps, bees, and ants
Apocrita
Temporal range: Early Jurassic–Recent
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Seleucus cuneiformis (Ichneumonidae)
Vespula germanica (Vespidae)
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hymenoptera
(unranked):
Unicalcarida
Suborder:
Apocrita Gerstaecker, 1867[1]
Subgroups
Stephanoidea
Ceraphronoidea
Evanioidea
Ichneumonoidea
Proctotrupomorpha
Cynipoidea
Chalcidoidea
Diaprioidea
Proctotrupoidea
Platygastroidea
Mymarommatoidea
Trigonaloidea
Megalyroidea
Aculeata
Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. It includes wasps, bees, and ants, and consists of many families. It contains the most advanced hymenopterans and is distinguished from Symphyta by the narrow "waist" (petiole) formed between the first two segments of the actual abdomen; the first abdominal segment is fused to the thorax, and is called the propodeum. Therefore, it is general practice, when discussing the body of an apocritan in a technical sense, to refer to the mesosoma and metasoma (or gaster) rather than the "thorax" and "abdomen", respectively. The evolution of a constricted waist was an important adaption for the parasitoid lifestyle of the ancestral apocritan, allowing more maneuverability of the female's ovipositor.[2] The ovipositor either extends freely or is retracted, and may be developed into a stinger for both defense and paralyzing prey. Larvae are legless and blind, and either feed inside a host (plant or animal) or in a nest cell provisioned by their mothers.
Apocrita has historically been split into two groups, Parasitica and Aculeata. Aculeata is a clade whose name is in standard use. "Parasitica" is not a clade, as it is paraphyletic: the clade would contain the Aculeata. "Parasitica" is therefore a rankless grouping in many present classifications, if it appears at all.
Parasitica comprises the majority of hymenopteran insects, its members living as parasitoids.[3][4] Most species are small, with the ovipositor adapted for piercing. In some hosts, the parasitoids induce metamorphosis prematurely, and in others it is prolonged. There are even species that are hyperparasites, or parasitoids on other parasitoids.[5] The Parasitica lay their eggs inside or on another insect (egg, larva or pupa) and their larvae grow and develop within or on that host. The host is nearly always killed. Many parasitic hymenopterans are used as biological control agents to control pests, such as caterpillars, true bugs and hoppers, flies, and weevils.[6]
Aculeata is a monophyletic group that includes those species in which the female's ovipositor is modified into a stinger to inject venom. Groups within Aculeata include the familiar ants, bees, and various types of parasitic and predatory wasps; it also includes all of the social hymenopterans.[7]
Among the nonparasitic and nonsocial Aculeata, larvae are fed with captured prey (typically alive and paralyzed) or may be fed pollen and nectar. The social Aculeata feed their young prey (paper wasps and hornets), or pollen and nectar (bees), or perhaps seeds, fungi, or nonviable eggs (ants).
^Gerstaecker, C.E.A. (1867). "Ueber die Gattung Oxybelus Latr. und die bei Berlin vorkommenden Arten derselben". Zeitschrift für die Gesammten Naturwissenschaften (in German). 30 (7): 1–144.
^Grimaldi, David; Engel, Michael S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. p. 414. ISBN 978-0-521-82149-0.
^Cite error: The named reference Peters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Heraty, John; Ronquist, Fredrik; Carpenter, James M.; Hawks, David; Schulmeister, Susanne; Dowling, Ashley P.; Murray, Debra; Munro, James; Wheeler, Ward C. (2011). "Evolution of the hymenopteran megaradiation". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 60 (1): 73–88. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.04.003. PMID 21540117.
^Sullivan, Daniel J. (2009). "Hyperparasitism". Encyclopedia of Insects. Elsevier. pp. 486–488. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-374144-8.00138-7. ISBN 978-0-12-374144-8.
^"Parasitoid Wasps (Hymenoptera)". University of Maryland. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
^Cite error: The named reference BranstetterDanforth2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. It includes wasps, bees, and ants, and consists of many families. It contains the most advanced...
than those of non-borers. With rare exceptions, larvae of the suborder Apocrita have no legs and are maggotlike in form, and are adapted to life in a protected...
previous group, ending with the Apocrita which are not sawflies. The primary distinction between sawflies and the Apocrita – the ants, bees, and wasps –...
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...
narrow-waisted Apocrita without the ants and bees. The sawflies (Symphyta) are similarly paraphyletic, forming all of the Hymenoptera except for the Apocrita, a clade...
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted...
the Apocrita, the group containing wasps, bees and ants, with both groups together forming the clade Euhymenoptera. Like most members of Apocrita, but...
The Sphecidae are a cosmopolitan family of wasps of the suborder Apocrita that includes sand wasps, mud daubers, and other thread-waisted wasps. The name...
different genera in Europe and some 800 species in North America. Like all Apocrita, gall wasps have a distinctive body shape, the so-called wasp waist. The...
is an obsolete, paraphyletic infraorder of Apocrita containing the parasitoid wasps. It includes all Apocrita except for the Aculeata. Parasitica has more...
Britain. The following species are of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor ant. Embolemus ruddii Chrysis ignita Chrysis...
insects, the metanotum is reduced relative to the mesonotum. In the suborder Apocrita of the Hymenoptera, the first abdominal segment is fused to the metathorax...
This list of 2024 in paleoentomology records new fossil insect taxa that are to be described during the year, as well as documents significant paleoentomology...
no legs at all and are poorly sclerotized. Based on sclerotization. All Apocrita are apodous. Three apodous forms are recognized. Eucephalous – with well...
single clade which contains the Apocrita and the Orussoidea, but has been secondarily lost multiple times. The Apocrita emerged from that clade during...
Shih, C.; Ren, D. (2022). "New praeaulacid and ephialtitid hymenopterans (Apocrita) from the Middle Jurassic of northeastern China". Alcheringa: An Australasian...
of Hymenoptera Apocrita from the superfamily Evanioidea Family †Maimetshidae Rasn., 1975 – a Cretaceous family of Hymenoptera Apocrita from the superfamily...
thorax with the gaster (the remaining abdominal segments) in the suborder Apocrita Pedicel (spider), the narrow segment connecting the cephalothorax with...
specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two other insect orders, the Diptera (true...
abdomen has only six segments. The abdomen is sometimes highly modified. In Apocrita (bees, ants and wasps), the first segment of the abdomen is fused to the...
Proctotrupomorpha is a major subgrouping of the Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, containing mainly parasitic wasps. It contains the major groupings of...
There are approximately 506 genera within the family Encyrtidae (Apocrita, Hymenoptera). There are two subfamilies: Encyrtinae and Tetracneminae. Noyes...
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