More covert sex: The elusive females of myrmecolacidae

Among evolutionary biologists, considerable interest currently surrounds organisms that seem to be represented entirely by females. Here we discuss a less familiar problem — that of organisms in which females appear to be lacking. Our main example is the Myrmecolacidae (Strepsiptera), an unusual group of entomophagous parasites with dual hosts. Males parasitize ants and females parasitize orthopterans. Although the free-living adult males are frequently collected, the permanently endoparasitic neotenic females are elusive and are seldom encountered.