Camp wasp
| Camp wasp | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lariophagus distinguendus | ||||||||||||
| ( Foerster , 1841) |
The camp wasps ( Lariophagus distinguendus ) is a hymenoptera from the superfamily of the wasps (Chalcidoidea). The species is widespread worldwide and probably cosmopolitan, although this was made possible through human displacement.
description
The male animals have an average body length of 2.0 millimeters, the maximum length is 2.4 millimeters. The females are on average 3.0 millimeters long, with a maximum length of 3.3 millimeters. The wasps have a black, slightly shiny metallic body that, when viewed at a larger scale, has a dark, steel-blue sheen. The body surface is finely grained and punctured, with the abdomen appearing rather smoothly polished, especially on the sides where the leg links lie. The fifth to tenth segment of the antennae is drawn further apart in the males than in the females. In addition, the abdomen of the males is oval, hardly wider and thicker than the thorax and is surmounted by the folded wings. In the females, the abdomen is significantly larger. It is wider and thicker than the thorax and is drawn out in a point at the end. The folded wings cannot cover the whole abdomen. The thorax and metathorax have scaly dots and short, strong hair. The legs are colored yellowish-brown from the thigh rings ( trochanters ). The yellowish brown ovipositor of the female arises from a groove on the belly side of the abdominal tip. The compound eyes are hardly set off from the black base color, pale dark brown-red. The antennae and especially the distal parts of the legs are short-bristled, but densely hairy.
Way of life
Adult animals presumably feed on pegs from the host larvae. The larvae of the generalist parasitoids parasitize at least the larvae of 11 species of beetles that live inside seeds or in cocoons. Among the hosts are among grain weevils ( Sitophilus granarius ), maize weevil ( Sitophilus zeamais ), rice weevil ( Sitophilus oryzae ), lesser grain borer ( Rhizopertha dominica ) and tobacco beetle ( Lasioderma serricorne ), but also the grain moth ( Sitotroga cerealella ) is attacked.
pairing
Before mating, the smaller male climbs as far forward as possible on the back of the female and tries to whip the outside of the antennae of the female with the inside of his widely spread antennae in order to stimulate the female to mate. When the antennae touch each other, the male brushes his antenna a little forward along those of the female and finally taps the tip of the antennae of the female with his antennae. The tap is repeated three to four times before the feelers are whipped again. If the female is ready to mate after several passes, the male must move backwards on its back in order to carry out the copulation while hanging from the tip of the female's abdomen. The male flaps his wings to keep his balance. The pairing only takes a few seconds. Then the males look for new partners, whereas the females behave passively towards further attempts at mating.
development
Before laying eggs, the female touches the individual grains from all sides with her antennae and searches for suitable host larvae in them. Only one egg is laid per host larva. After hatching, the wasp larva attaches itself to the host larvae and sucks on its body fluids. Only after some time is the host larvae so impaired that it gradually ceases its activity and finally turns brownish, wrinkled and dies. The adult, about 2.5 to 3 millimeters long, brownish wasp larvae are very mobile and pupate inside the grain. After about 10 days, the adults hatch and use their mandibles to eat their way outside.
Economical meaning
Lager wasps are used as beneficial insects against lager pests (e.g. grain weevils ) in granaries. They are particularly important in organic farming. You can track grain beetle larvae in silos up to a depth of 4 meters.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Meeting reports of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin, born in 1919, Berlin, 1920, p. 402ff.
- ↑ a b c Meeting reports of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin, born in 1919, Berlin, 1920, p. 376ff.
- ↑ a b Johannes LM Steidle, Cornelia Gantert, Sabine Prozell, Matthias Schöller: Potential of the camp wasp Lariophagus distinguendus for combating the tobacco beetle Lasioderma serricorne . Announcements of the German Society for General and Applied Entomology 15, online: PDF ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (126 kB)
- ↑ a b Steffi Niedermayer & Johannes LM Steidle: Biological pest control in ecological storage protection with the help of the storage wasp Lariophagus distinguendus . Landinfo 1/2011, online: PDF ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (77.4 kB)
- ↑ Berd Eberhardt: Die Büchse der Parasiten, STZ from September 2, 2013
Web links
- Lariophagus distinguendus in Fauna Europaea