Stylops

insect

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Last updated

July 14, 2026

Quick Summary

Stylops refers to insects within the order Strepsiptera, known for their parasitic nature. These insects parasitize other insects, including bees, planthoppers, and leafhoppers. Mature female Stylops are typically wingless and saclike, while the males are winged with distinctive fan-shaped hindwings, club-shaped forewings, large eyes, and comblike antennae.1

The larvae of Stylops are parasitic. After being picked up by bees from flowers, they penetrate bee larvae and develop within the host. The female Stylops remains inside the host, with only her head protruding from the bee's abdomen. Male Stylops emerge as winged adults to find and fertilize the females. The young then develop inside the female and are carried by the bee to a flower. Bees parasitized by Stylops generally live a normal lifespan, but their reproductive organs do not develop. Some classifications place these insects within the beetle family Meloidae.1

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strepsipteran
The bristly and long-legged Stylops larvae are picked up from a flower by bees and transported to a bee nest, where they penetrate bee larvae and live as parasites first within the larva and later in the adult bee. The Stylops female remains permanently in the puparium formed from…
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The bristly and long-legged Stylops larvae are picked up from a flower by bees and transported to a bee nest, where they penetrate bee larvae and live as parasites first within the larva and later in the adult bee. The Stylops female remains permanently in the puparium formed from…
Read More