Overview
One North American species has been reared as a parasitoid from a planthopper (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea), however the biology of the Australasian species is unknown.
Description
Embolemids vary in length from 2 5 mm. They have the anterior head protruding where the antennae are attached and superficially resemble diapriids in this respect. They also often have reduced eyes, particularly in females, which have the eye less than one-third the height of the head, and the fore femur slightly enlarged. Females are brachypterous and have wings that do not reach past the posterior mesosoma, while males are fully winged in Australasian species.
Distribution
This small, very rarely collected family is known from less than 20 species worldwide, including four species described from Australia, and one from New Zealand, all belonging to the nominal genus
Embolemus
.
Further information about the Embolemidae can be found in Finnamore & Brothers 1993, Gauld & Hanson 1995, Naumann 1991and Olmi 1995.