Gasteruptiidae
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| Gasteruptiidae | ||||||||||||||
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 Gasteruption jaculator
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The family Gasteruptiidae is one of the more distinctive among the Apocritan wasps, with surprisingly little variation in appearance for a group that contains around 500 species in 9 genera worldwide. The propleura form an elongated "neck", the petiole attaches very high on the propodeum, and the hind tibiae are swollen and club-like. The females commonly have a long ovipositor, and lay eggs in the nests of solitary bees and wasps, where their larvae prey upon the host larvae and provisions.
The absence of "teeth" on the crown of the head and the somewhat thickened antennae readily separate these wasps from those in the unrelated family Stephanidae, which also contains very slender wasps with long necks.
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