Wasp Families: Encyrtidae. The Biocontrol Family.

Of the superfamily Chalcidoidea, the family Encyrtidae is one of the easiest to identify. Encyrtids have enlarged mesopleurons (Figure 1 and Figure 2). Mesopleurons is the lateral side of the mesothorax which bears the second pair of legs. The family is also identifiable for its short marginal veins (Figure 1). Finally, the wasps have the distortion of the tergites which creates this U shaped pattern shown in Figure 1, Figure 3, and in Figure 4. They're fairly easy to identify and in the field sampling done in Mexican coffeefarm, this was the largest and most diverse family.

Figure 1. Some rough sketches when I was keying (Drawing: Damie Pak)

Figure 2. The enlarged mesopleuron (Photograph: Damie Pak)

Figure 3. The distortion in the metasoma (Photograph: Damie Pak)

Figure 4. The Anatomy of an Encyrtidae Wasp
http://www.asturnatura.com/familia/encyrtidae.html

The Encyrtidae is widely studied due to its effectiveness in biological control; half of the species are known to control borers and other hemipterans. Some species utilizes lepidopterans for hosts and there are even some Encyrtids that parasitize other wasp families.

Great resources for looking at Encyrtidaes:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/chalcidoids/encyrtidae.html

Annotated Keys to the Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) ::Genera of Encyrtidae