Strepsiptera

Insect order containing small insects that are external parasites of other insects. There are 300 species.

Classification Strepsiptera is in subclass Pterygota, class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda.

The males are free-living, with forewings reduced to small clublike structures, but with large hindwings; the females usually remain in a puparium (case made from the last pupal stage) that protrudes slightly from the host insect. A few species have larvalike females that leave the hosts. The larval development is hypermetamorphic, that is with a different form for each of the several stages. All are parasitic in various insects of the orders Hemiptera (bugs) and Hymenoptera (bees and their relatives).