Ichneumon Wasps are parasitoid Wasps (Wasps whose parasitic larvae grow within the body of a living host) that target a wide range of hosts, including Spiders, Beetles, Butterflies and Moths, and even other Wasps. Most species target the larvae of other Insects, with the female laying a single egg beneath the skin of the victim, the larval Wasp then growing inside the host, which is able to grow and feed, but when the host pupates the parasite finishes consuming it and emerges from the victim's pupa as an adult Wasp. Almost all Ichneumon Wasps are host specific, targetting only a single species, and the family is the largest known family of Wasps (and one of the largest known families of Insects) with over 60 000 species.
In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 15 March 2016, Ying Zhang and Mao-Ling Sheng of the General Station of Forest Pest Management of the State Forestry Administration and Zi-Cheng Xiong of the Forest Pest Control and Quarantine Station of Etuoke, describe a new species of Ichneumon Wasp from Dulan County in Qinghai Province, China.
The species is described from catapillars of Snout Moths of the species Bazaria turensis collected from a shrubbery in August 2013 and fromunidentified catapillars collected from scrubland at Etuoke in Inner Mongolia in September 2014 and raised in cages until they matured. It is placed in the genus Trieces, and given the specific name etuokensis, meaning 'from Etuoke'. The Wasps are 2.8 mm (females) and 3.1 mm long (males) and black in colour, except for a yellow face and yellow-brown markings on the limbs and underside.
Trieces etuokensis, female in dorsal view. Zhang et al. (2016).
See also...
A new species of Ichneumon Wasp from Qinghai Province, China. Ichneumon Wasps of the genus Campoplex
are parasitiods of Beetles and Moths (i.e. their larvae live inside Beetles and
Moths, eating their living host as they mature) found predominantly in Europe
and...
Two new species of Ichneumon Wasps from Fennoscandia and Hungary. Ichneumon Wasps are parasitoids whose larvae develop on or in the
bodies of other Arthropods, typically Insects or Spiders. Since Insect species
are always described from adult specimens, species of parasitoid Wasps are
generally named from specimens taken from the wild as adults, and the larval
host of often unknown. However some scientists have developed an alternative
method...
Two new species of Ichneumon Wasps from Africa. Ichneumon Wasps are large parasitoid Wasps (the largest species can
exceed 5 cm) closely related to Braconids. They are noted for their
reproductive behaviour, in which the females sting another Insect or Spider to
paralyze it, then lay an egg on, in or near the...
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