Aulacidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Apocrita
Superfamilia: Evanioidea

Familia: Aulacidae
Genera: Aulacus - Pristaulacus
Name

Aulacidae Shuckard, 1842

References

Template:Shuckard, 1842

Moghaddam, M. & Turrisi, G. 2018. Taxonomic and faunistic study of Aulacidae (Hymenoptera, Evanioidea) from Iran, with illustrated key to species. Zoosystematics and Evolution 94(1): 95–108. DOI: 10.3897/zse.94.22501. Reference page.
Turrisi, G.F.; Jennings, J.T.; Vilhelmsen, L. 2009: Phylogeny and generic concepts of the parasitoid wasp family Aulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). Invertebrate systematics, 23: 27–59.
Turrisi, G.F.; Vilhelmsen, L. 2010: Into the wood and back: morphological adaptations to the wood-boring parasitoid lifestyla in adult aulacid wasps (Hymenoptera: Aulacidae). Journal of Hymenoptera research, 19(2): 244–258. ISSN: 1070-9428
Watanabe, K.; Konishi, K.; Turrisi, G.F. 2013: Diversity of Aulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea) in the oceanic Ogasawara Islands (Japan), with description of a new species from Anijima Island. Zootaxa 3736(2): 187–197. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3736.2.6 Reference page.

The Aulacidae are a small, cosmopolitan family of wasps, with two extant genera containing some 200 known species. They are primarily endoparasitoids of wood wasps (Xiphydriidae) and xylophagous beetles (Cerambycidae and Buprestidae). They are closely related to the family Gasteruptiidae, sharing the feature of having the first and second metasomal tergites fused, and having the head on a long pronotal "neck", though they are not nearly as slender and elongate as gasteruptiids, nor are their hind legs club-like, and they have more sculptured thoraces. They share the evanioid trait of having the metasoma attached very high above the hind coxae on the propodeum.

While generally rarely collected, they can be locally abundant in areas undergoing logging or forest fires. The rich fossil record of Aulacidae indicates they were quite abundant in the Mesozoic.
References

Tree of Life Aulacidae
Catalogus Evaniidorum

Further reading

Jennings, J.T. & Austin, A.D. 2004, Biology and host relationships of aulacid and gasteruptiid wasps (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea): a review. In: Rajmohana, K., Sudheer, K., Girish Kumar, P., & Santhosh, S. (Eds) Perspectives on Biosystematics and Biodiversity. (University of Calicut, Kerala, India), pp. 187–215.
Turrisi, G.F., Jennings, J.T. & Vilhelmsen, L. 2009, Phylogeny and generic concepts in the parasitoid wasp family Aulacidae (Hymenoptera: Evanioidea). Invertebrate Systematics 23, 27–59.