Скачать или смотреть Braconidae: Microplitis retentus parasitizes the Western Dappled White

The parasitoid wasp Microplitis retentus (Papp, 1984)(Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea: Braconidae) parasitizes the young caterpillars of butterflies belonging to the tribe Anthocharini of the family Pieridae.

This 5 mm long wasp parasitizes young caterpillars of the Western Dappled White (Euchloe crameri Butler, 1869). Using its ovipositor, it inject a single egg in its victim. The parasitoid larva develops inside its host (endoparasitoid) where it lives off the haemolymph, without preventing the host's growth. When the caterpillar becomes about 15 mm it climbs high up on the food-plant, and after some time the larva erupts between the 2nd and 3rd abdominal prolegs, and then it immediately spins a cocoon next to the caterpillar, which remains alive for a few days.
After about 10 days the adult wasp bites a clean circular lid, most of the time at the underside of its cocoon, from which it emerges.

In the rearing shown here, the wasp emerged from its cocoon quite rapidly, and there is then a further generation, overwintering in the cocoon. However, it may be more usual for there to be only one generation, with harder and darker cocoons that withstand not only the rest of the summer but also the winter.

Remarks and identification Dr. Mark R. Shaw

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