Ixodiphagus ephres
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| Noyes , 2010 |
Ixodiphagus ephres is a wasp of the genus Ixodiphagus in the family Encyrtidae . The hyperparasite lays its eggs in the larvae and nymphs of one or more as yet unknown tick hosts . The hatching larvae feed ontheir hostas parasitoids . Ixodiphagus ephres has so far only been found in Costa Rica .
description
From Ixodiphagus ephres only the females are known to date. They are small, dark-colored wasps whose appearance other chalcids corresponds, but which have a strong and slightly flattened physique. The color of the head and body is brown, with a brass-colored and slightly greenish and purple sheen. The body length is between 1.0 and 1.4 millimeters. The wingspan is well below two millimeters, the front wings are about 2.1 to 2.3 times as long as they are wide and translucent. The wing vein on the edge is dotted.
The head is flattened at the top and two and a half times as wide as the front vertex , with a trim with bristle-like setae , which are located in conspicuous depressions. The three ocelli on the head form an angle of about 85 degrees at the front, the rear ones are further away from the edges of the lateral complex eyes than their own diameter. At the front of the head there are two antennas that are close together . Their scapus is orange in color, long and slender, at least four times as long as it is wide. It is followed by the orange-brown pedicellus and a funiculus divided into six brown segments. The first flagellomer of the funiculus has no longitudinal sensillae , is wider than it is long and shorter than the second flagellomer. The second to sixth flagellomeres have sensillae. The furrow between the two proximal flagellomeres of the tripartite clavus is poorly developed and incomplete, so that it does not give the impression of a seven-pinned funiculus.
The scutellum is convex and has slight depressions with hair on the surface. The posterior edge of the hypopygium is conspicuously V-shaped, with conspicuously long but slender setae in the middle. The legs have dark brown coxae and femora , up to the orange tarsi there is a color transition.
Ixodiphagus ephres is very similar to the species Ixodiphagus texanus . It differs from this in the first flagellomer of the funiculus, which has no longitudinal sensillae, and is wider than long and no longer than the second flagellomer. The furrow between the first two members of the clavus is incomplete. The posterior margin of the hypopygium is indented and it has long and slender setae. In Ixodiphagus texanus , the first flagellum has sensillae and is both longer than wide and longer than the second flagellomer. The furrow between the first two members of the clavus is weak but complete, here too without the impression of a seven-membered funiculum. The posterior margin of the hypopygium is straight and it has showy short and strong setae.
Way of life
All species in the genus Ixodiphagus are parasitoids . They lay their eggs in larvae or nymphs of various types of ticks , which serve as food for their larvae. The tick host of Ixodiphagus ephres is not yet known.
distribution
Ixodiphagus ephres has so far only been found in Costa Rica . The type location is the Biological Station La Selva in the province of Heredia ( 10 ° 25 ′ 42.2 ″ N , 84 ° 0 ′ 41.4 ″ W ). Of the 18 paratypes, 17 also come from there; they were caught between 1989 and 1996. A paratype comes from the vicinity of Bribri in the province of Limón ( 9 ° 37 ′ 32.2 ″ N , 82 ° 51 ′ 10.1 ″ W ). In addition to Ixodiphagus ephres , five other species of the genus Ixodiphagus occur in Costa Rica . Ixodiphagus texanus was described as early as 1907, the other four were described with Ixodiphagus ephres in 2010 .
Systematics and taxonomy
Ixodiphagus ephres is one of 15 species of the genus Ixodiphagus Howard , 1907 in the monotypic tribe Ixodiphagini Howard , 1908. This belongs to the family Encyrtidae , a family of jewel wasps whose species almost without exception parasites of insects , spiders , mites are or ticks. The Ixodiphagini are the only tick parasites.
The first description was in 2010 by the Welsh entomologist John S. Noyes from the Natural History Museum in London. Noyes treated the subfamily Encyrtinae with the Ixodiphagini and other tribes in the third volume of his presentation of the Encyrtidae of Costa Rica. The holotype is in the collection of the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) in Costa Rica.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g John S. Noyes: Encyrtidae of Costa Rica (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) 3. Subfamily Encyrtinae: Encyrtini, Echthroplexiellini, Discodini, Oobiini and Ixodiphagini, parasitoids associated with bugs (Hemiptera), insect eggs (Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Neuroptera) and ticks (Acari) . (= Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute. Volume 84). Gainesville, FL 2010, ISBN 978-1-887988-28-5 , pp. 649-660.
- ↑ John S. Noyes and Mohammad Hayat: A review of the genera of Indo-Pacific Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). In: Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology). 1984, Volume 48, No. 3, pp. 131-395, here p. 288, digitized .
- ^ John S. Noyes: Encyrtidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) . (= Fauna of New Zealand. 13). DSIR Science Information Publishing Center, Wellington 1988, ISBN 0-477-02517-X , pp. 9-12. Digitized .