Fossil-lineage
Guides
Pelecinus
American pelecinid wasps, snake-tailed wasps
Pelecinus is the sole living genus of the family Pelecinidae, containing three species restricted to the New World. Females are immediately recognizable by their extraordinarily elongated, thread-like abdomens that can exceed 5 cm in length, used to probe soil and deposit eggs on scarab beetle larvae. The genus represents a relict lineage with extensive fossil diversity dating to the early Cretaceous across multiple continents.