Apocrita in the context of "Wasp"

A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host is itself a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two other insect orders, the Diptera (true flies) and Coleoptera (beetles). Seventeen families in Hymenoptera and a few species of Diptera and Coleoptera are hyperparasitic. Hyperparasitism developed from primary parasitism, which evolved in the Jurassic period in the Hymenoptera. Hyperparasitism intrigues entomologists because of its multidisciplinary relationship to evolution, ecology, behavior, biological control, taxonomy, and mathematical models.

Sawflies are wasp-like insects that are in the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which females use to cut into the plants where they lay their eggs. The name is associated especially with the Tenthredinoidea, by far the largest superfamily in the suborder, with about 7,000 known species in the entire suborder. There are 8,000 described species in more than 800 genera.

Despite their given taxonomic rank of suborder, Symphyta is a paraphyletic group, consisting of several basal groups within the order Hymenoptera, with each one rooted inside the previous group; the various superfamilies of insects called "sawfly" do form a natural group or clade, but this clade also includes the Apocrita – the ants, bees, and wasps – which are not considered sawflies. The primary distinction between sawflies and the Apocrita is that the adult sawflies (the imago) lack a "wasp waist" or petiole; the segments connecting the abdomen and the thorax smoothly transition between the two (leading to their scientific name). Sawflies first appeared 250 million years ago in the Triassic. The oldest superfamily, the Xyeloidea, is still extant today. Over 200 million years ago, a lineage of sawflies evolved a parasitoid lifestyle, with carnivorous larvae that ate the eggs or larvae of other insects. Sawflies are distributed globally, though they are more diverse in the northernmost hemispheres.

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.

Parasitoid wasp species differ in which host life-stage they attack: eggs, larvae, pupae, or adults. They mainly follow one of two major strategies within parasitism: either they are endoparasitic, developing inside the host, and koinobiont, allowing the host to continue to feed, develop, and moult; or they are ectoparasitic, developing outside the host, and idiobiont, paralysing the host immediately. Some endoparasitic wasps of the superfamily Ichneumonoidea have a mutualistic relationship with polydnaviruses, the viruses suppressing the host's immune defenses.