Pelecinus

Taxobox | name = "Pelecinus"


image_caption = "Pelecinus polyturator"
image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Hymenoptera
subordo = Apocrita
superfamilia = Proctotrupoidea
familia = Pelecinidae
genus = "Pelecinus"
genus_authority = Latreille, 1800
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"Pelecinus dichrous" Perty, 1833
*"Pelecinus polyturator" (Drury), 1773
*"Pelecinus thoracicus" Klug, 1841

The genus "Pelecinus" is the only living member of the family Pelecinidae (there are also two fossil genera), and contains only three species restricted to the New World. One species, "Pelecinus polyturator", occurs from North through South America, and the others occur in Mexico ("Pelecinus thoracicus") and South America ("Pelecinus dichrous"). The females are glossy wasps, very long (up to 7 cm) and the abdomen is extremely attenuated, used to lay eggs directly on scarab larvae buried in the soil.