Holopsenellidae

†Holopsenellidae is an extinct family of wasps in the infraorder Aculeata. Specimens have been found in Burmese and Lebanese amber from the Cretaceous period.

Taxonomy

†Holopsenellidae was considered to be a subfamily within Bethylidae by its original authors. However, a later study found that the venation of the hind wing was more complete, which corresponds more with Plumariidae and that the members of †Holopsenella, the type genus which all other genera in the subfamily must be compared to, lack key diagnostic features of Bethylidae. This means that the only genus left in the family was †Holopsenella. The authors also found no solid evidence to place Holopsenellidae in any lower taxon than Aculeata. The other genera that were previously included in Holopsenellidae did show the diagnostic features of Bethylidae and are therefore still considered to be in Bethylidae but have not yet been assigned to any subfamilies as of 2022. In 2025, a second genus was described, †Typhopsenella, but they made no updates to the taxonomic placement of †Holopsenellidae.

Etymology

The name of the family stems from the name of the type genus, †Holopsenella. This name is composed of two parts. The first is "holos", which in Greek means "complete" and the second is "psen" which means wasp. The Latin diminutive "psenella" is also found in the names of the primitive genera Lytopsenella and Eupsenella.