Xenos
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Strepsiptera
Suborder: Stylopidia
Family: Xenidae
Genus: Xenos
Rossi, 1793

Xenos is a genus of insects belonging to the family Xenidae.[1] The word derives from the Greek word for strange.[2] A species of the genus is Xenos vesparum, first described by Pietro Rossi in 1793.[3][4] The females are permanent entomophagous endoparasites of Polistes paper wasps. They dwell their whole lives in the abdomens of wasps.

Four male pupae are visible partially emerged from the wasp's abdomen; likely Xenos peckii, which is a parasite of the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus.

Species

These 33 species belong to the genus Xenos:[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Benda, D; Pohl, H; Nakase, Y; Beutel, R; et al. (2022). "A generic classification of Xenidae (Strepsiptera) based on the morphology of the female cephalothorax and male cephalotheca with a preliminary checklist of species". ZooKeys (1093): 1–134. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1093.72339. PMC 9010403. PMID 35586542.
  2. ^ Craig, John (1859). "A new universal etymological technological, and pronouncing dictionary of the English language". Routledge. p. 1090.
  3. ^ R. Dallai; L. Beani; J. Kathirithamby; P. Lupetti & B. A. Afzelius (2003), "New findings on sperm ultrastructure of Xenos vesparum (Rossi) (Strepsiptera, Insecta)", Tissue and Cell, 35 (1): 19–27, doi:10.1016/S0040-8166(02)00099-X, PMID 12589726
  4. ^ Fabiola Giusti; Luigi Dallai; Laura Beani; Fabio Manfredini & Romano Dallai (2007), "The midgut ultrastructure of the endoparasite Xenos vesparum (Rossi) (Insecta, Strepsiptera) during post-embryonic development and stable carbon isotopic analyses of the nutrient uptake", Arthropod Structure & Development, 36 (2): 183–197, doi:10.1016/j.asd.2007.01.001, PMID 18089098


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