Eucharitidae

The Eucharitidae are a family of parasitic wasps. Eucharitid wasps are members of the superfamily Chalcidoidea and consist of four subfamilies: Akapalinae, Eucharitinae, Gollumiellinae, and Oraseminae. Most of the 42 genera and >400 species of Eucharitidae are members of the subfamilies Oraseminae and Eucharitinae, and are found in tropical regions of the world.

Eucharitids are specialized parasitoids of ants, meaning each species is usually only parasitic of one genus of ant. Furthermore, they are one of the few parasitoids that have been able to use ants as hosts, despite ants’ effective defense systems against most parasitoids. Eucharitid parasitism occurs year-round, with a majority of it occurring during hot and humid months. However, the amount of parasitism that occurs depends primarily on the size of the ant colony and the number of host pupae in them, and not on the season.