Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
Polyembryony is the development of two or more embryos from a single egg. It occurs normally in parasitic insects, e.g., in Strepsiptera, Halictoxenos (Noskiewicz and Poluszński 1935), and in four families of Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Macrocentrus (Muesebeck et al. 1951); Encyrtidae, Ageniaspis (Marchal 1904) and Copidosoma (Doutt 1947); Platygasteridae, Platygaster (Hill and Emery 1937); and Dryinidae Aphelopus (Kornhauser 1919). In these insects polyembryony serves as a survival mechanism.
On the other hand, sporadic polyembryony has been reported to occur in eggs of the grasshoppers Dociostaurus and Melanoplus (Slifer and Shulow 1947).