Ripiphoridae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wedge-shaped beetles
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Coleoptera Suborder: Polyphaga Infraorder: Cucujiformia Superfamily: Tenebrionoidea Family: Ripiphoridae Gemminger & Harold, 1870
Subfamilies
Hemirhipidiinae Micholaeminae Pelecotominae Ptilophorinae Ripidiinae Ripiphorinae

The family Ripiphoridae (formerly spelled Rhipiphoridae) is a cosmopolitan group of beetles commonly known as wedge-shaped beetles containing some 450 species. They are one of the most unusual beetle families, in that they are parasitoids; different groups within the family attack different hosts, but most are associated with bees or vespid wasps, while some others are associated with roaches. They often have abbreviated elytra, and branched antennae.

For those which attack bees, eggs are typically laid on flowers, where they hatch almost immediately into small planidium larvae, which wait for a passing host. They grab onto a bee when it visits the flower, and ride it back to its nest, where they disembark and enter a cell with a host larva. The beetle larva then enters the body of the host larva, where it waits while the larva grows. When the host pupates, the beetle larva migrates to the outside of its body and begins to feed, eventually consuming it.