Thynnidae

Thynnidae
Male Agriomyia sp. feeding on nectar
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Superfamily:	Thynnoidea
Family:	Thynnidae Shuckard, 1841
Subfamilies
Anthoboscinae Turner, 1912 Diamminae Turner, 1907 Methochinae Rohwer, 1916 Myzininae Borner, 1919 Thynninae Ashmead, 1903

The Thynnidae (also known as thynnid wasps, flower wasps, or thynnid flower wasps) are a family of large, solitary wasps whose larvae are almost universally parasitoids of various beetle larvae, especially those in the superfamily Scarabaeoidea. Until recently, the constituents of this family were classified in the family Tiphiidae, but multiple studies have independently confirmed that thynnids are a separate lineage.^[1][2][3]

Most species are small, but they can be up to 30 mm long.^{[citation needed]} The females of some subfamilies (Diamminae, Methochinae, and most Thynninae) are wingless and hunt ground-dwelling (fossorial) beetle larvae, or (in one species) mole crickets.^[4] The prey is paralysed with the female's sting, and an egg is laid on it so the wasp larva has a ready supply of food. In species where both sexes are winged, males are similar in size to the females, but are much more slender. The males of species with wingless females, however, are often much larger than the females and have wings; the adults mate in the air, with the female carried by the male's genitalia.^{[citation needed]} Adults feed on nectar and are minor pollinators.^[5] As some of the ground-dwelling scarab species attacked by thynnids are pests, some of these wasps are considered beneficial as biological control agents. ^{[citation needed]}

The family has five extant subfamilies, which were previously placed in Tiphiidae before it was found to be non-monophyletic.^[1] Thynnidae genera are classified as follows:^{[1][6][3][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

The following 4 genera are extinct members of Thynnidae:^[17]

• †Architiphia Darling, 1990

• †Brachymethoca Zhang, 1989

• †Geotiphia Cockerell, 1906
• †Lithotiphia Cockerell, 1906