Chalcididae

The Chalcididae are a moderate-sized family within the Chalcidoidea, composed mostly of parasitoids and a few hyperparasitoids. The family is apparently polyphyletic, though the different subfamilies may each be monophyletic, and some may be elevated to family status in the near future. As presently defined, there are over 85 genera and over 1460 species worldwide. They are often black with yellow, red, or white markings, rarely brilliantly metallic, with a robust mesosoma and very strong sculpturing. The hind femora are often greatly enlarged, with a row of teeth or serrations along the lower margin.

Chalcididae

John Curtis · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ChalcidoideaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 27.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Eocene — about 7 of 10 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 10 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 10 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41.03 Mya27.3 Mya48.6 Mya22.5 Mya

10 occurrences of Chalcididae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

10 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Florissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EMessel — 49.93°N, 8.75°EAntero — 39.11°N, 105.71°W

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The named rock units Chalcididae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chalcididae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Chalcididae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

221 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 6 sites for Chalcididae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

6 references

Each of the 10 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Chalcididae

Credit
John Curtis
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Chalcididae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itChalcidoidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Leach 1815