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Taxonomy
Ichneumonidae
EOL Text
Unlike true wasps, ichneumon wasps do not sting people. The larvae of this wasp live off of or even in other insects or spiders. Caterpillars in particular are a favorite prey. The adult animal looks for a suitable prey, paralyzes it with its stinger, drags it to a hole where one egg is laid on top. The host is still alive while the larva eats it up, but eventually die. Some species of ichneumon wasps inject the egg directly into the prey. There are many species of ichneumon wasps found in the dunes. They are also used in glasshouse farming to combat pests. Due to their manner of arching their body, this species is also referred to as a scorpion wasp.
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| Rights holder/Author | Ecomare |
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Members of the family Ichneumonidae are occasionally reared from infested fruits, but most of those that emerge directly from the fruit are parasitoids of lepidopteran and (to a lesser extent) coleopteran larvae. The ichneumonids attacking fruit-infesting Tephritidae are nearly always pupal parasitoids, often attacking the host after it leaves the fruit. Thus, they are rarely sampled during most rearing programs. Ichneumonids have generally been reared only from those species that have been extensively studied, and for which adequate samples of puparia have been collected from the soil (e. g. Palaearctic Rhagoletis, see Hoffmeister 1990, 1992). Genera reared from tephritids include Gelis (Figs. 4, 5), Phygadeuon (Figs. 1-3), and Cremnodes, all members of the subfamily Cryptinae.
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Animal / parasitoid / endoparasitoid
larva of Perilampus tristis is endoparasitoid of cocoon of Ichneumonidae
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| Rights holder/Author | BioImages, BioImages - the Virtual Fieldguide (UK) |
| Source | http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/Ichneumonidae.htm |
Ichneumonidae (ichneumonids (unspecified)) is prey of:
Linyphia triangularis
Agelena labyrinthica
Based on studies in:
England, Oxshott Heath (Heath, Plant substrate)
This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.
- O. W. Richards, 1926. Studies on the ecology of English heaths III. Animal communities of the felling and burn successions at Oxshott Heath, Surrey. J. Ecol. 14:244-281, from pp. 263-64.
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| Rights holder/Author | Cynthia Sims Parr, Joel Sachs, SPIRE |
| Source | http://spire.umbc.edu/fwc/ |
Ichneumonidae (ichneumonids (unspecified)) preys on:
Retinia buoliana
Panolis griseovariegata
Oenerostoma piniariella
Gelechia dodecella
Based on studies in:
England, Oxshott Heath (Heath, Plant substrate)
This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.
- O. W. Richards, 1926. Studies on the ecology of English heaths III. Animal communities of the felling and burn successions at Oxshott Heath, Surrey. J. Ecol. 14:244-281, from pp. 263-64.
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
| Rights holder/Author | Cynthia Sims Parr, Joel Sachs, SPIRE |
| Source | http://spire.umbc.edu/fwc/ |
Ovipositor drills through wood: parasitic wasps
The 10 cm long ovipositor of the parasitic wasp, Megarhyssa ichneumon, drills several centimeters through solid wood using reciprocating rather than rotatory motion.
"In some wasps, the egg-laying organ, or ovipositor, has been adapted to bore through wood. I have watched Megarhyssa ichneumon wasps drill through several centimetres of solid elm in order to parasitize the woodboring larvae of horntail wasps that feed deep inside dead trees. The parasite appears to detect the presence of horntails by smelling with its antennae and perhaps by feeling the larvae's vibrations in the wood. The ovipositor of Megarhyssa is longer than the wasp itself--it measures almost 10 centimetres--and is highly flexible. The wasp not only is able to insert the ovipositor through several centimetres of wood but also uses it to inject eggs into its horntail host." (Forsyth 1992:27)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Forsyth, A. 1992. Exploring the World of Insects: The Equinox Guide to Insect Behaviour. Camden House.
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| Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
| Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/efd9f97ba5240b796b855c9bd5ee8397 |
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