The Mymarommatidae, sometimes referred to as false fairy wasps, are a very small family of microscopic parasitic wasps. Only about half of the known species are living taxa, but they are found worldwide.
Image: Mymaromella mira
Image: Mymaromella mira holotype Nrs 2008 huber 001 006
Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.
Megarhyssa macrurus (Ichneumonidae), a parasitoid, ovipositing into its host through the wood of a tree. The body of a female is c. 2 inches (50 mm) long, with an ovipositor c. 4 inches (100 mm) long.
Spider wasp (Pompilidae), an idiobiont, carrying a jumping spider she has just paralysed back to her nest, where she will lay an egg on it.
...but endoparasitic koinobiont wasp larvae eventually fill its body and kill it.
Hornworm with parasitic wasp cocoons
