Ladybug brackish wasp
| Ladybug brackish wasp | ||||||||||||
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| Dinocampus coccinellae | ||||||||||||
| ( Closet , 1802) |
The ladybird brackish wasp ( Dinocampus coccinellae , Syn .: Perilitus coccinellae ) belongs to the brackish wasp family from the superfamily of ichneumon wasps . This brackish wasp specializes in various species of ladybirds , on which their larva feeds parasitically.
features
The ladybird brackish wasp grows up to 4 millimeters in size. Their body is dark brown and, except for the propodeum , smooth. The head is light brown, fairly broad and has large, dark complex eyes. The genus Dinocampus has tiny setae on the eyes. The antennae of the ladybird brackish wasp are particularly long compared to other species of the genus, they have 14 antenna segments. The lip buttons are reduced to two segments. The pterostigmata on the forewings are relatively large and semicircular.
Only females of the ladybird brackish wasp are known and it is believed that they reproduce exclusively parthenogenetically .
distribution
The ladybird brackish wasp is common in the Holarctic and Australia . It occurs in North America as well as in the Old World from Europe to Japan. The native ladybirds Coleomegilla maculata and Coccinella trifasciata are most commonly attacked in the USA and Canada . In many parts of Europe, as well as Japan, the seven-spotted ladybird ( Coccinella septempunctata ) is most affected. Research in the Dundee region of Scotland has shown that up to 70% of seven-spot ladybirds can be infected with eggs by the ladybird brackish wasp. The two-point ladybird ( Adalia bipunctata ) and the ten-point ladybird ( Adalia decempunctata ) appear to be immune to the brackish wasp . In Australia, Coccinella transversalis is parasitized by the brackish wasp.
Their habitat is wherever there are ladybirds, including meadows, fields, fields, orchards and other agricultural areas. There is great interest in scientific research into the parasitism of brackish wasp. The effects on the ladybird populations are being investigated, as the ladybirds are often used as part of biological pest control against aphids and other plant pests .
Way of life
Brackish wasps are parasitoids , part of their development takes place as a parasite, the host animal dies after the parasitic phase of the parasite has been completed .
This brackish wasp is not a specialist in certain genera, but can attack more than 50 different species, mainly from the subfamily Coccinellinae of the ladybirds. Some species are more affected, others less or not at all. The ladybird brackish wasp lays an egg into the body of an adult beetle or a larger larva with its laying apparatus. The hatched larva of the brackish wasp feeds on the body fluids and fat tissue of the beetle in order to grow in it. After the first larval stage, they even overwinter together. In the following spring, it takes another 18–27 days for the parasite to reach the beetle's vital organs.
The brackish wasp larva then cuts through the nerve fibers in the beetle's legs so that it can no longer move. It then breaks through the shell and pupates in a web beneath the dead beetle. The dead beetle is held in place on the plant by this web. For the brackish wasp's predators, it looks like it is feeding on the larva of a woolly aphid . The signal colors of the ladybird deter such enemies. The pupil rest lasts 6 to 9 days. A few hours after hatching from the cocoon , the females can lay eggs.
The ladybird brackish wasp lays at least 100 eggs in its lifetime. It is bivoltine , so it produces two generations per year. Their approximately 100 possible, exclusively female offspring could therefore lay at least 10,000 more eggs in their hosts in the same season. Not all discarded brackish wasp eggs develop successfully in the beetles. Studies in Canada have shown that the ladybird brackish wasp was able to lay eggs in up to 55 percent of the specimens of a population of the ladybug Coleomegilla maculata , but only 5.9 percent of them developed to the pupal stage. In addition, a high parasitization rate only results if the ladybird brackish wasp is adapted to the respective ladybug species. If a new species is added, such as the Asian ladybird ( Harmonia axyridis ), which was introduced or introduced in Europe and North America, the ladybird brackish wasp only rarely develops successfully within the new host species (0 to 14.7 Percent, as found in a European study in 2010). Therefore, the ladybird brackish wasp is not currently a regulating factor for the growing Asian ladybird populations in Europe and North America.
Taxonomy
The species was described in 1802 by Franz von Paula cabinet under the name Ichneumon coccinellae and counted among the parasitic wasps . In 1862, the genus Dinocampus was established by Foerster .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Annabelle Firlej, Guy Boivin, Eric Lucas & Daniel Coderre: First report of Harmonia axyridis Pallas being attacked by Dinocampus coccinellae cabinet in Canada. Biological Invasions, 7, pp. 553-556, Springer 2005 doi : 10.1007 / s10530-004-5848-0
- ↑ Anne Bruce: parasitoid wasp threatens Scottish Seven Spot Ladybird. Mikoskopy-UK Magazine (accessed November 22, 2010)
- ↑ Charles Vincent, Mark Stanilaw Goettel and George Lazarovits (ed.): Biological Control: A Global Perspective. Cab International, 2007, p. 51 ISBN 1-84593-265-X
- ↑ Lynette Schimming: Dinocampus coccinellae Bug Guide from November 17, 2007 (accessed November 22, 2010)
- ↑ Nick Berkvens, Joachim Moens, Dirk Berkvens, Mohammad Amin Samihc, Luc Tirry and Patrick De Clercq: Dinocampus coccinellae as a parasitoid of the invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis in Europe. Biological Control, 53, 1, pp. 92-99, April 2010 doi : 10.1016 / j.biocontrol.2009.11.001
- ↑ A. Foerster: Synopsis of the families and genera of the Bracones. Negotiations of the Natural History Association of the Prussian Rhineland, 19, pp. 225–288, 1862. p. 252
Web links
- Dinocampus coccinellae at Fauna Europaea
- Species Dinocampus coccinellae Bug Guide (with photos, English)