Stylopidae

{{Short description|Family of insects}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Priabonian|Recent}} | image = Stylops childreni male.png | image_caption = ''Stylops childreni'' | taxon = Stylopidae | authority = Kirby, 1813 | subdivision_ranks = | subdivision = | synonyms = {{Taxon list | Hylecthridae | Pierce, 1908 }} | synonyms_ref = <ref name=itis/> }}

'''Stylopidae''' is a family in the order Strepsiptera. There are about 15 genera and more than 330 described species in Stylopidae.<ref name=itis/><ref name=gbif/><ref name=buglink/>

All Strepsiptera, including all members of Stylopidae are parasitic insects. Host insects of this family that are afflicted are referred to as being "stylopized".<ref name=Salt1929/>

Stylopidae (not to be confused with the clade Stylopidia<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pohl |first1=Hans |last2=Beutel |first2=Rolf Georg |date=July 2008 |title=The evolution of Strepsiptera (Hexapoda) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0944200608000135 |journal=Zoology |language=en |volume=111 |issue=4 |pages=318–338 |doi=10.1016/j.zool.2007.06.008|pmid=18356032 |bibcode=2008Zool..111..318P |url-access=subscription }}</ref>) are strictly parasites of bees.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cook |first=Jerry L. |date=2019-09-30 |title=Annotated Catalog of the Order Strepsiptera of the World |url=https://bioone.org/journals/transactions-of-the-american-entomological-society/volume-145/issue-2/061.145.0202/Annotated-Catalog-of-the-Order-Strepsiptera-of-the-World/10.3157/061.145.0202.full |journal=Transactions of the American Entomological Society |volume=145 |issue=2 |pages=121 |doi=10.3157/061.145.0202 |issn=0002-8320|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=buglink/> However, other strepsipteran families such as Corioxenidae, Elenchidae, Halictophagidae, Myrmecolacidae, and Xenidae are known to use members of Blattodea, Mantodea, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, and other Hymenoptera as hosts. Stylopized hosts sometimes display a variety of physical and behavioral changes.<ref name=tolhost/>

== Life cycle == As with others in the order Strepsiptera, Stylopidae larvae called triungulins, or more properly, planidia, enter their host and develop inside it. Females will remain inside the host. When females are ready to breed, they will push their head and brood canal opening, which is located just behind their head, out between the host insect's sclerites. Females draw males with pheromones who mate with them by means of the exposed brood canal. The eggs will hatch inside of their mother, and the larvae will feed on her body until it is time for them to exit through the brood canal and find their own hosts,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Will |first1=Kip |title=Field Guide to California Insects |last2=Gross |first2=Joyce |last3=Rubinoff |first3=Daniel |last4=Powell |first4=Jerry A. |publisher=University of California Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780520288744 |location=Oakland, California |pages=188–189}}</ref> most often by exploiting phoresy.

==Genera== *''Crawfordia'' Pierce, 1908 *''Eurystylops'' Bohart, 1943 *''Halictoxenos'' Pierce, 1908 *''Hylecthrus'' Saunders, 1850 *''Melittostylops'' Kinzelbach, 1971 *''Stylops'' Kirby, 1802 *†''Jantarostylops'' Kulicka, 2001 (Baltic amber, Priabonian)<ref>R. Kulicka. 2001. New genera and species of Strepsiptera from the Baltic amber. ''Prace Muzeum Ziemi'' '''46''':3-16</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=itis> {{Cite web| title=Stylopidae Report | url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=114991 | website=Integrated Taxonomic Information System | access-date=2019-05-24 }}</ref>

<ref name=gbif> {{Cite web| title=Stylopidae | url=https://www.gbif.org/species/7951 | website=GBIF | access-date=2019-05-24 }}</ref>

<ref name=buglink> {{Cite web| title=Family Stylopidae information | url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/69897 | website=BugGuide.net | access-date=2019-05-24 }}</ref>

<ref name=Salt1929> {{Cite journal | title = Stylopized Vespidae | date = 1929 | last1 = Salt | first1 = George | last2 = Bequaert | first2 = Joseph | journal = Psyche: A Journal of Entomology | volume = 36| issue = 3 | pages = 249–282 | doi = 10.1155/1929/78563| doi-access = free }}</ref>

<ref name=tolhost> {{Cite web| title=Stylopidia Host Relationships | url=http://www.tolweb.org/accessory/Stylopidia_Host_Relationships?acc_id=461 | website=tolweb.org | access-date=2020-05-03 }}</ref> }}

Category:Strepsiptera Category:Insect families Category:Taxa named by William Kirby (entomologist) Category:Parasitic insects