Thread subject: Diptera.info :: What species is this!

Posted by Lesu on 22-06-2013 13:41
#1

Hello,
This had come out from the Tortricidae moth and I canĀ“t see ho this is, so can somebody tell me ??

This species is only 7-9 mm long but only the body.
And they come 8

Edited by Lesu on 22-06-2013 14:57

Posted by Calilasseia on 25-06-2013 01:22
#2

It's an ichneumon wasp. Many of which are endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera. The adults inject a single egg into a Lepidoptera larva using the ovipositor. The egg then hatches, and the wasp larva feeds upon the Lepidoptera larva's stored fats, until the time for pupation arrives. When the Lepidoptera larva performs its final ecdysis into the pupal sage, the wasp larva then eats the entire contents of the pupal case, destroying the host. Then, the wasp larva pupates inside the dead Lepidoptera pupa, and emerges itself as an adult later.

As to the matter of precise ID, this is going to be difficult. It's pretty difficult even to be certain of which Family this insect belongs to (the Superfamily Ichneumenoidea contains two major Families, the Ichneumonidae itself and the Braconidae, both of which contain a LOT of species worldwide), and for a precise determination, you'll need to hand the specimen to a specialist in the field for a genital dissection. Only a tiny fraction of ichneumons can be identified precisely without a full genital dissection.

If you have a precise ID for the host Lepidoptera, this will help to narrow down the possible choices enormously, as ichneumons tend to be host specific, with most species utilising only one host species for reproduction. There are, however, some ichneumons that are capable of utilising several hosts, but even in these cases, they tend to restrict themselves to hosts of a particular Genus.

Posted by Lesu on 30-11-2013 10:49
#3

Hello,
Sorry for the late answer. The butterfly was Tortricidae and species is Loxoterma siderana.
:)