Stylopidae

What is Stylopidae?

In the order Strepsiptera the twisted wings are under the family Stylopidae.There are many described
species in the Stylopidae like 330 species witch are described and they have about 15 genera.Basically
the order Strepsiptra have extent 9 families and described species have almost 600 species .The
bees,,wasps ,silverfish,cockroaches are endoparasites in it.

Description

Inside the body finally females die in it because after entering into the body from the host many species
are emerged .Unoccupied living host emerge from early stage and in their host there are receptive
females .They are similar to the beetles and from 300 -350million years ago they are diverged . Stylop is
the common name of Strpsitera .

Classification

 They belongs to the “Animalia” Kingdom

 “Arthropod” is their phylum
 Hexapoda is their Subphylum
 Insecta is their class
 And their order is Strepsiptera
 Stylopdae is the family

Numbers of the Stylopidae

Three subfamilies belongs to it with the spp that are 64 in numbers .It have worldwide distribution with
the 8 genera .

Idenification of the Stylopidae family members

 At the 4-segmeted tarsi males are distinguished

 Antenna are 4-6 and it is segmented and it is aedeagus and metacoxae
 Genital apertures are present in the cephalothorax of the females and it is flattened and
Its range is worldwide

Grasp carrier wasp with strepsiptera parasites,bee plus hitch hiker,red marked
pechodyrenus,Stylops,Andrenidae,Xenos
It’s Food

Sphicoidea ,Aphidea ,Vespidae are parasites of subfamilies Xeninae,Stylopinae and paraxeninae

repectively.Some are the parasitic on wasps ,many are parasites on bees.

Members of the Stylopidae

Parasitic insects are members of the Stylopoidae.Styopized are their hosts .They are basically as being
associated with the Bees and wasps but the are also used members of the
Hermiptera,Diptera,Mantodea ,Blattodea ,and some other as hosts like the Hymenoptera. Physical and
behavioral changes display variety of the Stylopized.

1:Association with Honeybee

It is worldwide in distribution and it contains the four species which are found in the Europe,four are in
Africa and three are in the Oriental countries.One unique character in it is that it is very aggressive,and its
victim is chased by 328 feet .It is found in th South Africa,Mexico and Taxas.

 People are feared by it because of its sting that is very painful.

 After sting bee dies immediately because of poison sac and stinger
 In some cases it cause severe damage like death
 So the entire stinger because of the barbs which cause serious complication should be removed
immediate.

Life cycle of bee

Its life cycle have four stages which show complete metamorphosis

a) Egg
 b) Larvae
c) Pupa
d) And adults

all these stages are known as the brood.

Association with wasps

Host relationship of the Stylopodea

Stylpization is a term which is used for the Strepsitera parasitism .The life of the host is lengthens by it.In
the Delphacidae the internal and xterna genetalia are caused by the reduction of it,and than n the
Segesridae there is abnormality of the eggs.All positive acquisition of secondry sexual characters have the
pollen collecting apparatus .The behavior of the Heminoptera is also affected by it.
Upper left: Fig. 1. Unstylopised male Sogetella furcifera Horváth with normal external genitalia (arrow) x 43. Lower left:
Fig. 2. Stylopised male Sogetella furcifera Horváth with absence of external genitalia (arrow) indicating the presence of
endoparasitic Elenchus japonicus Esaki & Hashimoto x 33. (Photographs taken in Professor Maeta’s lab in Matsue). Right:
Fig. 3. SEM of (a) mature egg from unstylopised Segestidea novaeguineae (Brancsik) (b) egg from stylopised Segestidea
novaeguineae with bulbous protrusion (arrow). Bar line = 1 mm.  Images from Kathirithamby (1998), copyright © 1998
Elsevier Science.

Stylopidea hosts

 some are Blattodea like Blarridae ,Blattelidae

 few are Mantodea like Mantidae
 some are orthoptera like Grillidae
 Hemiptera is also one of their hosts like coreidea etc
 Dpitera is also their host like Plattysomatidae,Tephritidae,Eumenidea
 Some of it hosts are Heminoptera like vespids ,Fermatidae,
 Helictidae

 Top: Fig. 4. Female Stichotrema waterhousi Kathirithamby (arrow) parasitic in Paracaedicia sp. (Orthoptera:

Tettigoniidae). Scale bar= 12mm. Image from Kathirithamby et al. (2001). Copyright © 2001 The Netherlands
Entomological Society. Bottom: Fig. 5. SEM of stylopised minor worker of Pheidole sp. (arrow – broken cap of
male cephalotheca). Image from Kathirithamby (1991). Copyright © 1991 Entomological Society of Southern Africa.
Description

The Stylopidae is a small family of the Strepsiptera, one of the odder orders of insects. All stylopids are
endoparasites of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) (Kathirithamby 2009). Melittostylops
Kinzelbach is the only genus of this family known to parasitize members of the bee family Melittidae, as
all other extant stylopids (Crawfbrdia, Eurystylops, Halictoxenos, Hylecthrus, Stylops and Ulrich/a)
parasitize members of the classic short-tongued bee families: Colletidae, Halictidae and Andrenidae. The
Melittidae is a small (200 spp.), primarily African and Palearctic family of solitary, ground-nesting bees
represented in North America by three genera: Hesperapis of the Dasypodaiinae and Macropis and
Melitta of the Melittinae (Michener 2007; Michez et al. 2009). Recent molecular analyses indicate that
the Melittidae is the sister group to all other bees with a strong possibility that the family may be a grade
with the Dasypodainae (or Dasypodaidae) the true sister to all other bees (Danforth et al. 2006; Michener
2007; Michezetal.2009).
Melittostylops hesperaparium Kinzelbach, the only species in the genus, was described from three
females (Kinzelbach 1971). The type female was in an individual of Hesperapis (Carinapis) rhodocerata
Cockerell from Samalayuca, Chihuahua, Mexico. One of the paratypes was in an individual of H.
rhodocerata from Rodeo, New Mexico while the other was in an individual of Hesperapis (Amblyapis)
leucura Cockerell from San Felipe. Baja California, Mexico. Males of H. hesperaparium are unknown and
there have been no new published data on this genus since its original description.

We recently collected two stylopized individuals of a common, but undescribed species of Hesperapis
(Carinapis) (Melittidae: Dasypodainae), hereafter referred to as Hesperapis sp. A. (= H. "infuscata" of
Stage (1966)) in Texas. Each contained a single female strepsipteran. The first was a male collected on 15
March 2010 at Encinitos Ranch, 18 mi SW of Rachal, Brooks County, Texas (JLN #33813) and the
second a female at the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area, Dimmit County, Texas (JLN #33934) on 2
April 2010. In both cases, the cephalothorax of a female strepsipteran was exposed from under the left
side of the bee's fourth metasomal tergite (Fig. la). These strepsipterans match the figure of Melittostylops
hesperaparium illustrated by Kinzelbach (1971) and differ from the various female Crawfordia,
Ewystylops, Halictoxenos, and Stylops we have encountered in other Texas bees. While slightly larger
(cephalothorax width of 1.2 vs. 1.0 mm), the female Texas strepsipterans appear to be structurally
identical to individuals of M hesperaparium observed in a large sample of Hesperapis rhodocemta
recently collected by members of the Bee Course of the American Museum of Natural History near
Willcox, Cochise County, Arizona (26-30 August 2010, JLN pers. obs.). Species level determinations of
stylopids from females are often problematic (Bohart 1941) but all available evidence is consistent with
our Texas Melittostylops being M. hesperaparium.

One of the interesting features of stylopization (infestation of a host by a strepsipteran) in aculeate

Hymenoptera is the tendency of host by a strepsipteran) in aculeate Hymenoptera is the tendency of
parasitized adults to be "intersexes" with a mix of male and female characters (Salt 1927). The effects of
stylopization vary greatly characters (Salt 1927). The effects of stylopization vary greatly weak or absent
in Lasiog/ossum and other halictincs (Salt 1927; JLN pers. obs.) Our stylopized Dimmit County female
Hesperapis was typical in its external morphology and lacked any external indications of stylopization
beyond the presence of the female Melittostylops. The Brooks County male similarly lacked any external
signs of stylopization. Similarly, individuals of Hesperapis rhodocerata stylopized by female
Melittostylops also lacked obvious changes in external morphology. However, we had previously
collected two other stylopized specimens of Hesperapis sp. A. These were a male from near Sayersville,
Bastrop County, Texas collected by JLN on 3 May 1981 and a female collected by AWH 8.2 mi. south of
Pontotoc in Mason County, Texas on 4 May 2002. Each of these individuals had a single, empty, male
stylopid puparium exposed under the [4.sup.th] metasomal tergite (the left side of the Mason County
female and the right side of the Bastrop County male). We suspected these puparia were Melittosty/ops
but could not confirm this in the absence of other evidence. The male Hesperapis from Bastrop County
has reduced pilosi-ty, most evident on the face (Fig. lb), the apical fascia of the metasomal terga and the
hind legs. Normal males of Hesperapis sp. A have reduced metasomal fascia and reduced pubescence on
the hind legs relative to that of normal females, so the further reduction of such pubescence might be
thought of as hyper-masculine traits. However, normal males of the Hesperapis have conspicuously
longer and more abundant hair on their faces (Fig. 1c) than normal females (Fig. 1d), so the reduced
pubescence of the face, particularly on the clypeus and supra- and parocular areas, approaches the female
condition. In addition, the eyes of the stylopized Bastrop County male are much less convergent below
than is typical for males of Hesperapis sp. A (ratio of upper to lower inter-ocular distances 1.14 in the
stylopized male versus 1.38 [+ or -] 0.05 (n=12) in normal males and 1.08 [+ or -] 0.03 (n=12) in normal
females), again approaching the female condition. This male appears to have a masculinized mesosoma
and metasoma, but a feminized head. Although less melanized than normal, the genitalia and accessory
sterna of the male appear to be structurally typical for the species. The head of the stylopized female from
Mason County is normal but it also has reduced metasomal tergal fascia and reduced scopal hairs on the
hind tibia and basitarsi. Although these reductions in pilosity are not as striking as in the male, they also
indicate a degree of masculinization of the mesosoma and metasoma. We did not find any male H.
rhodocerata with male Melittostylops but the females with male Melittostylops had masculine hind legs
(reduced scopal hairs, and more extensive red-orange coloration), again indicating masculinization of the
mesosoma.

Stylopization of melittids apparently is rare as only five stylopized individuals were found among nearly
10,000 individuals of Hesperapis (stylopization rate of 0.05%) examined by Stage (1966). However,
stylopization rates can be much higher in some populations. Twenty-six stylopized individuals (12
females and 11 males with one or more female Melittostylops, two females with an emerged male and
one female with the rare condition of being infested by both a male (emerged) and two females) were
found in a sample of 576 individuals of Hesperapis rhodocerata (stylopization rate of 4.5%) collected near
Willcox, Arizona by various members of the Bee Course during a five day period in August, 2010 (JLN
pers. obs.).

The presence of Melittostylops in Texas is not unexpected as the type locality for M hesperaparium is
only 30 km south of El Paso, Texas, although our Texas records are 600 to 800 km east of the earlier
records. In addition, the host of the type specimen, Hesperapis rhodocerata, is in the same subgenus (but
not the same species group) as IL sp. A (Stage 1966; Michencr 1981), and, like H. sp. A, is oligolectic on
the Asteraceae (Stage 1966). This may be significant as the first step in host infestation takes place at
flowers where planidial larvae released by the mature female stylopid are either ingested or packed into
the scopae by visiting female bees. Later at the nest, the planidia (after nectar regurgitation if transported
in the crop) will penetrate the bee egg or early instar larva (Linsley & MacSwain 1957; JLN pers. obs.).
Lateral transfer of stylopids between different bee hosts is most likely among bee species sharing the
same floral hosts. Hesperapis rhodocerata and H. sp. A share floral hosts but currently are allopatric with
minimal overlap in their flight seasons (H. rhodocerata flies in late summer and fall while H. sp. A flies
primarily in late spring and early summer (Stage 1966; JLN pers. obs.)). Another Hesperapis species like
H. (Carinapis) rodecki Cockerell, whose range overlaps with both H. rhodocerata and H. sp. A, has both
spring and fall flight periods, and also is oligolectic on the Asteraceae, may be a possible pathway for the
transfer of Melittostylops between H. rhodocerata and H. sp. A. With this in mind, the status of one of the
paratypes of M hesperaparium may require further investigation as the host bee (H. leucura) is not closely
related to either H. rhodocerata or H. sp. A, is specialized on a distantly related host plant: Dalea
(Fabaceae), occupies a range west of both H. rhodocerata and H. sp. A, and is a spring bee, further
isolating it from H. rhodocerata (Stage 1966).

Stylops[

is a genus of obligately endoparasitic insects in the family Stylopidae. Hosts are typically members of the
order Hymenoptera. The official seal, and later logo, of the Royal Entomological Society features a
male Stylops.[2]

The name "stylops", used without a capital "s", refers as a common name to any member of the
order Strepsiptera, and not only the genus StylopidS.

These insects are very small parasites of other insects and are rarely seen as they spend most of their life within
the host. Males can appear very different from females are their distinguishing characteristics are given below:

Male Strpsiptera

 1-8 millimetre wingspan

 Large berry-like eyes
 Fan-shaped antennae
 Forewings reduced to knobs (similar to the halteres of
flies)
 Large membranous hind wings with reduced venation
Halictophagus species  Mouthparts are reduced and non-functional

Female Strpsiptera

 Larvae-like body
 Wingless
 Legless
 Reduced mouthparts

Larvae appear grub-like

Halictophagus species
 Life Cycle
Stylopids reproduce sexually and females most likely protrude through the abdomen of the host and
release pheromones to attract males. After mating the eggs develop and hatch into first instar larvae within the
females body. They then make their way out through her genital opening to find a new host. At this stage
the larvae are active, have long thin legs and are able to jump distances up to a few centimetres. After finding a
host the larvae burrows in through the cuticle and moults into a legless second instar which completes
development within the body of the host. Most stylopids pupate protruding from the host and emerge without
killing it. Males will fly off to find a female to mate with while females will emerge and stay on the original host.

Feeding
All species of female and larvae stylopids parasitise a variety of insect orders with most not confined to a single
host species. Male stylopids have greatly reduced mouthparts and do not feed.

Habitat
Stylopids are found over much of the country and in Australia they mostly parasitise bugs (Hemiptera) although
some other insect orders such as Orthoptera and Blattodea are affected. The free living stages of this order are
rarely found. Most male Halictophagus species (above) are parasites of Cicadellidae species (Hemiptera).

Species

 Stylops analis Perkins, 1918

 Stylops andrenaphilus Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops ater Reichert, 1914
 Stylops aterrimus Newport, 1851
 Stylops borcherti Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops dalii Curtis, 1828
 Stylops deserticola Medvedev, 1970
 Stylops dinizi Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops friesei Kirby, 1802
 Stylops gwynanae Günther, 1957
 Stylops hammella Perkins, 1918
 Stylops ibericus Luna de Carvalho, 1969
 Stylops kinzelbachi Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops liliputanus Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops lusohispanicus Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops madrilensis Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops maxillaris Pasteels, 1949
 Stylops melittae Kirby, 1802
 Stylops moniliaphagus Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops nevinsoni Perkins, 1918
 Stylops obenbergeri Ogloblin, 1923
 Stylops obsoletus Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops pacificus Bohart, 1936
 Stylops paracuellus Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops pasteelsi Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops praecocis Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops risleri Kinzelbach, 1967
 Stylops ruthenicus Schkaff, 1925
 Stylops salamancanus Luna de Carvalho, 1974
 Stylops spreta Perkins, 1918
 Stylops thwaitesi Perkins, 1918
 Stylops ventricosae Pierce, 1909
 Stylops warnckei Luna de Carvalho, 1974