Overview
Adults are most active in the cooler months and sometimes, over short periods, can be collected in large numbers. Little is known of their biology, but one Australian species is known to
parasitise
the eggs of
Boreoides
(Diptera: Stratiomyidae).
Description
The family is easily recognised by the massive mandibles, extremely elongate sickle-shaped metasoma of females, and elongate more pedunculate metasoma of males. Only three species from a single genus
Monomachus
have been described in Australia, found in the moist regions of eastern and south-western Australia; one species is known from New Guinea.
Distribution
This small family of moderate to large wasps (10 20 mm) occurs in Australia, New Guinea and the Neotropical region from Mexico to Chile. They have not been recorded from New Zealand.
Further information about the Monomachidae can be found in Masner 1993, Naumann 1985, Naumann & Masner 1985 and Naumann 1991.