Overview
All members of the family are ectoparasitoids of leafhopper (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) nymphs and adults. Females of the vast majority of species use their chelate fore legs to catch and hold their hosts while they sting and temporarily paralyse them. Wingless ant-mimicing females can often be found where ants tend leafhoppers for honeydew. The dryinid larva feeds externally within a thylacium, a 'sac' produced by its own moulted larval skins.
Description
Dryinids are small wasps, varying in length from about 2 10 mm. They are characterised by the antenna being 10-segmented and inserted close to the mouth, the fore legs of most females chelate (pincer-like), pronotum with an anterior flange, and often a marked constriction between the pro- and mesothorax. In addition, most groups are strongly sexually dimorphic, the females being wingless and ant-like in morphology, and males fully winged and wasp-like in appearance.
Distribution
Around 54 described species are known from Australia and two from New Zealand.
Further information on the Dryinidae can be found in Finnamore & Brothers 1993, Gourley 1954, Naumann 1991 and Olmi 1984.