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Information about Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Insecta
Subclass:Pterygota
Infraclass:Neoptera
Superorder:Endopterygota
Order:Hymenoptera
Linnaeus, 1758
Suborders


Apocrita
Symphyta


Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek (humẽn): membrane and (pteron): wing. The hindwings are connected to the forewings by a series of hooks called hamuli.

Females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or otherwise inaccessible places. The ovipositor is often modified into a stinger. The young develop through complete metamorphosis — that is, they have a worm-like larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature. (See holometabolism.)

Evolution

Hymenoptera originated in the Triassic, the oldest fossils belonging to the family Xyelidae. Social hymenopterans appeared during the Cretaceous. The evolution of this group has been intensively studied by A. Rasnitsyn, M. S. Engel, G. Dlussky, and others.

Sex determination

Main article: Haplo-diploid sex-determination system
Among the hymenopterans, sex is determined by the number of chromosomes an individual possesses. Fertilized eggs get two sets of chromosomes (one from each parent's respective gametes), and so develop into diploid females, while unfertilized eggs only contain one set (from the mother), and so develop into haploid males; the act of fertilization is under the voluntary control of the egg-laying female. This phenomenon is called haplodiploidy. Note, however, that the actual genetic mechanisms of haplodiploid sex determination may be more complex than simple chromosome number. In many Hymenoptera, sex is actually determined by a single gene locus with many alleles. In these species, haploids are male and diploids heterozygous at the sex locus are female, but occasionally a diploid will be homozygous at the sex locus and develop as a male instead. This is especially likely to occur in an individual whose parents were siblings or other close relatives. Diploid males are known to be produced by inbreeding in many ant, bee and wasp species.

One consequence of haplodiploidy is that females on average actually have more genes in common with their sisters than they do with their own daughters. Because of this, cooperation among kindred females may be unusually advantageous, and has been hypothesized to contribute to the multiple origins of eusociality within this order.

Classification

Symphyta

The suborder Symphyta includes the sawflies, horntails, and parasitic wood wasps. The group appears to be paraphyletic, as it is often believed that the family Orussidae may be the group from which the Apocrita arose. They have an unconstricted junction between the thorax and abdomen, and the larvae of free-living forms are herbivorous, have legs, prolegs (on every segment, unlike Lepidoptera), and ocelli.

Apocrita

The wasps, bees, and ants together make up the suborder Apocrita, characterized by a constriction between the first and second abdominal segments called a wasp-waist (petiole), also involving the fusion of the first abdominal segment to the thorax. Also, the larvae of all Apocrita do not have legs, prolegs, or ocelli.

References

See also

External links

General
Systematics
Regional Lists
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Arthropoda
Latreille, 1829

Subphyla and Classes
  • Subphylum Trilobitomorpha
  • Trilobita - trilobites (extinct)
  • Subphylum Chelicerata

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Insecta
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders
Subclass Apterygota
* Archaeognatha (bristletails)
* Thysanura (silverfish)
Subclass Pterygota
* Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic)

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Neoptera
Martynov, 1923

Superorders and orders

Superorder Exopterygota
  • Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers)
  • Mantophasmatodea (gladiators)
  • Plecoptera (stoneflies)
  • Embioptera (webspinners)
  • Zoraptera (angel insects)

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Endopterygota
Sharp, 1898

Orders

Hymenoptera (ants, bees, etc.)
Coleoptera (beetles)
Strepsiptera (twisted-winged parasites)
Raphidioptera (snakeflies)
Megaloptera (alderflies, etc.
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Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné)

Carl von Linné, Alexander Roslin, 1775. Currently owned by and hanging at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
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Systema naturae was one of the major works of the Swedish doctor of medicine Carolus Linnaeus. Its full title is Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Apocrita

Superfamilies
  • Aculeata
  • Superfamily Apoidea
  • Superfamily Chrysidoidea
  • Superfamily Vespoidea
  • Parasitica

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Symphyta redirects here. For the moth genus, see Symphyta (moth).


Sawflies



Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum:
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order (Latin: ordo, plural ordines) is a rank between class and family (termed a taxon at that rank). The superorder is a rank between class and order. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Insecta
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders
Subclass Apterygota
* Archaeognatha (bristletails)
* Thysanura (silverfish)
Subclass Pterygota
* Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic)

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Symphyta redirects here. For the moth genus, see Symphyta (moth).


Sawflies



Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum:
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wasp is any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is not a bee or ant. The suborder Symphyta includes the sawflies and wood wasps, which differ from members of Apocrita by having a broader connection between the mesosoma and metasoma.
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BEE may refer to:
  • Black Economic Empowerment, the policy of post-apartheid affirmative action in South Africa
  • Biblical Education by Extension, a Christian program designed to instruct theology in countries with weak theological infrastructure.

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Formicidae
Latreille, 1809

Subfamilies
  • Aenictogitoninae
  • Agroecomyrmecinae
  • Amblyoponinae (incl. "Apomyrminae")
  • Aneuretinae
  • Cerapachyinae
  • Dolichoderinae
  • Ecitoninae (incl.

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Ancient Greek refers to the second stage in the history of the Greek language[1] as it existed during the Archaic (9th–6th centuries BC) and Classical (5th–4th centuries BC) periods in Greece.
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ovipositor is an organ used by some of the arthropods for oviposition, i.e. the laying of eggs. It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly.
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A stinger (or more correctly, sting) is a common term for a sharp organ or body part found in various animals and plants that usually delivers some kind of venom (usually piercing the skin of another animal) or an electric shock.
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Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's form or structure through cell growth and differentiation.
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Holometabolism, also called complete metamorphism, is a term applied to insect groups to describe the specific kind of insect development which includes four life stages - as an embryo, a larva, a pupa and an imago.
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The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 Ma (million years ago). As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events.
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Xyelidae

Genera

see text

The Xyelidae is a small family of sawflies known from fewer than 50 extant species in 5 genera, but with an extensive fossil record; they are the oldest fossil Hymenoptera, dating back to the Triassic, some 200 million
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The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i.e. from 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago (Ma)) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary Period (about 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma).
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Alexandr (Alex) Rasnitsyn is one of world leading experts in palaeoentomology. His scientific interests are centered on the palaeontology, phylogeny and taxonomy of the hymenopteran insects and of the insects in general.
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Michael S. Engel (born 24 September 1971 in Creve Coeur, Missouri) is a paleontologist and entomologist. He has undertaken field work in Central Asia, Asia Minor, and the Western Hemisphere, and published more than 200 papers in scientific journals.
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The Haplodiploid sex-determination system determines the sex of the offspring of many Hymenopterans (bees, ants, and wasps), and coleopterans (bark beetles). It may help to explain the evolution of eusociality in these species.
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A sex-determination system is a biological system that determines the development of sexual characteristics in an organism. Most sexual organisms have two sexes. In many cases, sex determination is genetic: males and females have different alleles or even different genes that
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