Ceraphronidae
| Ceraphronidae | ||||||||||
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Ceraphronidae |
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| Haliday , 1833 |
The Ceraphronidae are a family of hymenoptera with worldwide distribution. There are more than 300 known species, which are divided into 15 genera.
features
They are small animals with a body length of less than one to a maximum of about five millimeters. They are mostly black in color, but there are also brown, orange-brown and yellowish colors (often on the abdomen). The antennas have a greatly elongated basal segment, the rest of the antenna sits on it at a clear angle ("kneeling" antennas). The flagellum is usually quite short and often thickened a bit at the tip, but it can also be long and thread-shaped. The number of segments can vary depending on the species, with the males always having one more segment than the females. Often there are ten or eleven segments. The antennae sit a little above the clypeus at about the level of the lower edge of the eye, i.e. relatively deep. The two-pointed mandibles are the largest mouthparts .
The animals can be winged, short-winged (brachypter) or wingless. The wing development is often variable within a species, with the females being wingless more often. The wings are always clear with a narrow wing mark (pterostigma) in the forewing, they are densely covered with small hairs (microtricha). The wing veining is greatly reduced. Only one vein can be seen in the forewing (interpreted as Costa or fused Costa / Subcosta or as fused Costa and radius), which runs as a marginal vein up to the wing mark, but is separated from it by a small interruption. As a rule, a small, hook-shaped extension is attached to the tip (interpreted either as a radius or as a cross vein R-RS). The wing mark is narrow and inconspicuous. The small hind wing usually shows no venation at all.
The family is characterized by the number of spurs (strong, thorn-shaped tips) on the tibia (splints). There are two spurs on the anterior tibia, one on the middle and two spurs on the rear tibia. The species of the superfamily Ceraphronoidea are the only waist wasps with two spurs on the front tibia. The spurs are cut in a comb shape (pectinate). The strongly shortened pronotum is also noticeable on the trunk . In contrast to the related family Megaspilidae , there are no conspicuous paired keel lines (called notaulices or parapsids) on the middle segment (mesonotum) (exception: Ceraphron abnormalis ). On the abdomen, a striking special formation is a glandular field of unknown function on the upper side of various abdominal segments (usually on tergite 6), which is called " Waterston's organ ". The abdomen is usually relatively short and rounded on the sides, the first free segment is the longest. The ovipositor of the females is usually of moderate length and hidden in the abdomen when at rest.
Way of life
As larvae, all Ceraphronidae are parasitoids of other insect species. Very many species are obligatory parasitoids of other hymenoptera, which are themselves parasitoids, that is, they are hyperparasitoids. Species in sheaths or wrappings are always infested, but these must not be very massive. The larva of the Ceraphronidae lives freely on their host (ectoparasitoid), which is usually only covered with an egg in the last larval stage or when pupating. The genus aphanogmus is well investigated and also of economic importance . It parasitizes on parasitic wasp larvae of the genus Aphidius (family brackish wasps, subfamily Aphidiinae), which in turn parasitize in aphids . In the final stage, the Aphidius larva completely eats the aphid, whose exoskeleton is an empty shell ("aphid mummy") that surrounds the pupating parasitoids. At this stage the aphanogmus female lays her egg through the aphid mummy on the parasitoids. In this case, animals already occupied by a hyperparasite are possibly also occupied, so that the animals are then second-order hyperparasites, but this is not the rule. The Aphanogmus larva goes through three instars and pupate in the Blattlausmumie next to the remains of their host. Since the ceraphronid parasitizes a parasitoid, which in turn infects an aphid, which may be economically important as a pest, like all hyperparasites it reduces the effectiveness of biological pest control.
Other types of ceraphronids are primary parasitoids. Some species (including other representatives of aphanogmus ) occur as parasitoids of gall mosquitoes (Cecidomyiidae), which they cover with an egg within their galls.
Systematics
The Ceraphronidae are one of the two families of the superfamily Ceraphronoidea . Her sister group relationship with the second family Megaspilidae is considered to be well secured. The Ceraphronoidea are traditionally classified into a large and ill-defined kin group of hymenoptera known as Proctotrupomorpha . These small animals, often very similar to one another, have been poorly researched; it is believed that more than nine tenths of the species that actually exist are still undescribed. They are often referred to informally as "microhymenoptera". In addition to the placement in the Proctotrupomorpha, possibly as a sister group of the Platygastoidea , a position within the Evaniomorpha (hunger wasp-like) is also being considered.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ceraphronidae. Hymenoptera online
- ↑ Peter Neerup Buhl & Jorgen Jorgensen (200): Notes on species of Ceraphronidae and Platygastridae (Hymenoptera) reared from Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) in Denmark. Entomologiske meddelelser 78: pp. 33-39.
- ↑ cf. z. BL Vilhelmsen, I. Mikó, L. Krogmann (2010): Beyond the wasp-waist: structural diversity and phylogenetic significance of the mesosoma in apocritan wasps (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 159 (1): pp. 22-194
literature
- Lubomir Masner (1993): Superfamily Ceraphronoidea. In: H. Goulet & JT Huber (eds): Hymenoptera of the World: An Identification Guide to Families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada Publication (Ottawa): pp. 566-567. ISBN 9993997331
- GR Broad, L. Livermore: Checklist of British and Irish hymenoptera - ceraphronoidea. In: Biodiversity data journal. Number 2, 2014, p. E1167, doi : 10.3897 / BDJ.2.e1167 , PMID 25197240 , PMC 4152828 (free full text).
