Parasitic wasp vs Parasitoid wasp

Metaphycus helvolus compared with Metaphycus hageni

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Parasitic wasp	Parasitoid wasp
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class same	Insecta (Insects)	Insecta (Insects)
Order same	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)
Family same	Encyrtidae	Encyrtidae
Genus same	Metaphycus	Metaphycus
Species	Metaphycus helvolus	Metaphycus hageni

Evolutionary Relationship

Parasitic wasp and Parasitoid wasp share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Metaphycus.

Conservation Status

Parasitic wasp

NE — Not Evaluated

Parasitoid wasp

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Parasitic wasp	Parasitoid wasp
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Parasitic wasp

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Cyprus, Israel), Europe (13 countries), and North America (United States).

Parasitoid wasp

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Denmark and United States.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇩🇰 Denmark 🇺🇸 United States