The remarkable biology of a new species of Gelis Thunberg, 1827 (Ichneumonidae, Phygadeuontinae), a solitary endoparasitoid of fresh eggs of Timarcha (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae)
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Resource type
Journal article
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Date published
April 29, 2021
Abstract
A new species, Gelis timarchae Schwarz, Shaw & Kan, is figured and described from specimens reared as a solitary endoparasitoid of fresh eggs of Timarcha nicaeensis in the south of France. Oviposition behaviour of the adult parasitoid, directly into the host cytoplasm, is described and links to videos are given. This appears to be the first record of any ichneumonid developing as an endoparasitoid of an insect egg, and it is a major departure from hitherto known ectoparasitoid (or spiders’ egg-predation) behaviour in the genus Gelis. Fluid from the host egg issuing from the base of the parasitoid’s ovipositor early in the oviposition process is interpreted as a necessary reduction of hydrostatic pressure before the parasitoid egg can be forced down the ovipositor. The egg and first instar larva are figured; the latter is caudate, with the caudal appendage very unusual in being bifurcate. The complex phenology and diapause of the parasitoid were investigated partly experimentally; it is broadly bivoltine with a prepupal diapause in summer, but extra generations and prolonged diapause were both also seen.
Journal title
Journal of Hymenoptera Research
Volume
82
Publisher
Pensoft
Place of publication
Sofia, Bulgaria
eISSN
1314-2607
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