[ **up: [[Insects]]** ]
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# Hymenoptera (Order)
A large order of [[Insects|insects]], including [[sawflies]], [[wasps|wasps]], [[bees]], and [[Ants|ants]].[^1]
> Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones.[^2]
Many of this species are [[Parasites|parasitic]].[^3]
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## Taxonomy
- **[[Life (Biology)]]**
- **[[Eukaryotes|Eukaryota (Domain)]]**
- **[[Animals|Animalia (Kingdom)]]**
- [[Arthropods|Arthropoda (Phylum)]]
- [[Insects|Insecta (Class)]]
- [[Hymenoptera (Order)]]
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## Habits
### Pheromones
#### Signature mixes
[[2025-0321. Examples of signature mixes for animal recognition abound.|’In social insects such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites, the differences in chemical profile between colonies allow animals to distinguish nest-mates and non-nestmate conspecifics.’]][^4]
[[2025-0321. 'Social insect workers do not reproduce in the presence of queen pheromones.'|'Social insect workers do not reproduce in the presence of queen pheromones.']][^5]
[[2025-0321. 'Social insect workers do not reproduce in the presence of queen pheromones.'|'The queen pheromone molecule(s) appeared in the gas chromatogram traces as constant peaks in all queens, overlaid on a complex colony odour background of cuticular hydrocarbons, highly variable between colonies.’]][^6]
[^1]: ‘Hymenoptera’, *Wikipedia*, updated 16 March 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera.
[^2]: ‘Hymenoptera’, *Wikipedia*, updated 16 March 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera.
[^3]: ‘Hymenoptera’, *Wikipedia*, updated 16 March 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera.
[^4]: Tristram D. Wyatt, ‘[[Wyatt. ‘Pheromones’, 2017.|Pheromones]]’, *Current Biology*, vol. 27, issue 15 (7 August 2017), p. R740.
[^5]: Tristram D. Wyatt, ‘[[Wyatt. ‘Pheromones’, 2017.|Pheromones]]’, *Current Biology*, vol. 27, issue 15 (7 August 2017), p. R740.
[^6]: Tristram D. Wyatt, ‘[[Wyatt. ‘Pheromones’, 2017.|Pheromones]]’, *Current Biology*, vol. 27, issue 15 (7 August 2017), p. R740.