This document discusses the order Hymenoptera and some of its key families. It begins by providing characteristics of the order, which includes wings that are stiff and membranous. The order is divided into two suborders: Symphyta and Apocrita. It then describes 7 families of Hymenoptera in detail, including Apidae (honey bees), Tenthredinidae (sawflies), Braconidae (braconid wasps), Chalcididae, Formicidae (ants), Trichogrammatidae (egg parasitoids), and Ichneumonidae. Each family summary includes 1-2 defining characteristics and an example genus. References used include books and online resources.

1. College of agriculture and research
Station Kunkuri, jashpur (C.G)
An assignment on.
-ORDER HYMENOPTERA AND THEIR FAMILIES WITH SUITABLE
EXAMPLES.
Course Title – Fundamentals of Entomology II
Course Code – AENT-5121
Credit hours –. 2(1+1)
Submitted to - Submitted By-
Mr. Vinay Pradhan Himanshu gupta
. ( Course teacher) B.sc Ag. 1st year 2nd sem.

2. KINDOM – ANIMALIA
PHYLUM – ARTHROPODA
CLASS – INSECTA
ORDER – HYMENOPTERA
DIVISION – ENDOPTERYGOTA

3. ORDER-- HYMENOPTERA
(Hymenoptera , Hymen = membrane, petron=wings ,
. ( Honey bees , Ants,wasps,etc)
1. Small to minute size insects.
2. Head is saparated from thorax and can freely move
(hypoganathus).
3. Mouthparts are primarily adapted for chewing.
Mandibles are very well developed. In both labium
and maxillary are integrated to form the lapping
tongue.

4. 4. Compound eyes are well developed and 3 ocelli
present.
5. Thorax is round cylindrical and separated from abdomen
by narrow petiole.
6. Wings are stiff and membranous forewings are larger
than hindwings. wing venation is reduced.
7. Wing coupling- Hamuli.
8. abdomen is basally constricted .the first abdominal
segment is called propodeum.it is fused with metathorax.
9. Metamorphosis is complete.
10. Abdominal tip of female is pointed with Ovipositor or
stiging organ.
11. Legs –Running ,jumping ,pollen collecting.

5. This order is divided into two sub orders-
Symphyta
1. Abdomen is broadly jointed to
the thorax
2. Larva is a Caterpillar and
belongs to you eruciform type
3. Stemmata are present
4. Ovipositor is saw like and
suited for piercing the plant
tissue
5. They are phytophagous
6. Both thoracic and abdominal
legs are present
Apocrita
1. Abdomen is petiolated
2. Larva is a grub and it
belongs to apodous
eucephalous type
3. Stemmata are absent
4. Ovipositor is not saw like and
is suited for piercing in
parasitic groups or for
stinging in other groups
5. They are generally parasitic
6. Legs are absent

6. FAMILIES OF HYMENOPTERA
FAMILY- APIDAE (Honey bees)
1. Body is covered with branching or plumose hairs.
2. Mouthparts are chewing and lapping type.
Mandibles are suited for crushing and shaping
wax for building combs.
3. Legs are specialized for pollen collection. Scopa
(pollen basket) is present on hind tibia.
4. They are social insects with three castes viz.,
queen, drone and workers.
5. Indian honey bee Apis indica is a productive
insect.

7. Examples- (i) Apis dorsata
. (ii) Apis mellifera
. (iii) Apis flora
. (iv) Apis cerana indica (indian honey bee)

8. FAMILY- TENTHREDINIDAE,(Sawflies)
Characterstics-
1. They are wasp like insects.
2. Abdomen is broadly joined to the thorax.
3. The ovipositor is saw toothed and suited for slicing
the plant tissue.
4. Larvae is eruciform. It resembles a lepidopteran
caterpiller. It has one pair of ocelli,papillae (reduced
antenna) three pair of thoracic legs and 6-8 pairs of
abdominal legs.
5. They are external feeders on foliage. Larvae while
feeding usually have posterior part of the body
coiled over the edge of the leaf.

9. Example- Mustard sawfly: Athalia lugens
proxima praxinma is a defoliator of mustard
and cruciferous vegetables.

10. (3) FAMILY – BROCANIDAE (Braconid wasps)
Characteristics-
1. They are small, stout bodied insects.
2. Forewing has one recurrent vein.
3. Petiole is neither curved nor expanded at the apex.
4. Gaster is sessile or subsessile.
5. Abdomen is as long as the head and thorax together.
6. They parasitize lepidopteran larvae
7. Commonly They are gregarious parasites.
8. In many species polyembryony is observed.
9. Compound eyes are naked and three ocelli present.
10.Hind femur is simple and thikened.

11. 11.Pupation occurs in silken cocoons either externally on the
host or away from the host in groups.
Example- (i) Brocon Sp.
(ii)Chelonus sp.
(iii) Apanteles sp.

12. (4) FAMILY – CHALCIDIDAE
CHARACTERSTICS;--
1. They are small to medium sized insects.
2. Head is small with small antenae
3. Hind coxae are five to six times larger than fore
coxa.
4. Hind tibial spurs are larger than mid tibial spurs.
5. Hind femure are larger with a row of short-teeth.
6. Wing venation is reduced to a single anterior vein.
7. Ovipositoris short and straight.
8. Generally egg-larvel ,or pupal paracitoids.

13. Example –Brachimeria sp. Is a pupal parasite
on coconut black headed caterpillar.

14. (5) FAMILY– FORMICIDAE
CHARACTERSTICS;-
1. They are common widespread
insects.
2. Antennae are geniculate.
3. Mandibles are well developed.
4. Wings are present only in sexually
mature forms.
5. They are social insects with Three
casters Viz., queen males and
Workers.
1. The joint of head thorax and abdomen
are very clear.

15. (6) FAMILY – TRICHOGRAMMATIDAE (egg parasitoids)
CHARACTERSTICS
1. They are very tiny insects (0.3 to 1.0) mm
long.
Tarsus is three segmented.
Forewing is broad with
pubesence(microscopic hairs) in rows.
Hindwing is reduced .
They are mainly egg parasites on
lepidopteran insects .
Exa.- trichogramma sp. is extensively
used in the biological control of sugarcan
moth borers

16. • (7) FAMILY– ICHNEUMONIDAE
CHARACTERISTICS —
1. Adults are diurnal and visit flowers
2. Trochanter is two segmented. Hind femur is with
trochantellus.
3. Forewing has two recurrent veins.
4. Petiole is curved and expanded at the apex.
5. Sternites of the gaster are membranous.
6. Ovipositor is arising anterior to the tip of abdomen.
It is often longer than the body and exerted out
permanently.
7. Larvae are mostly parasites and less frequently
hyperparasites.
8. They are solitary parasites.

17. Example- Eriborus trochanteratus is an exotic
larval parasite of coconut black headed
caterpillar.

18. 1. Slideshare
2. Insecta ,by (K.N Raghumoorthi)
References