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HYMENOPTERA, Cynipidae (Eucoilinae) (Cynipoidea) -- <Images> & <Juveniles>

Description

The Eucoilinae are distinguished by a rounded rise on the scutellum. They are parasitoids of Diptera pupae.

Dalla Torre & Kieffer (1910), Weld (1952) and Nordlander (1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982a, 1982b) have made several revisions of this subfamily. Quinlan (1986) keyed the African genera and Quinlan (1967) constructed keys to the brachypterous genera and species. Vet & Bakker (1985) and Vet & Van Alphen (1985) studied various behaviors.

The Eucoilinae were treated as a distinct family Eucoilidae by Ritchie (1993). The scutellum has an obvious rounded and raised plate or cup. They are distinguished by the presence of a raised plate on the dorsal surface of the scutellum. Both males and females can be separated from by differences in the number of antennal segments. Males have 15 and females have 13.

All are solitary endoparasitoids that oviposit in the larvae of cyclorrhaphous Diptera and emerge as adults from the host puparium

Only the genus Aganaspis has been deployed in biological control of Tephritidae (Clausen 1978; Wharton et al. 1998; Ovruski et al. 2000).

They are all internal parasitoids of dipterous larvae, emerging from the puparium. Many species inhabit the animal dung environment or are found around rotting fruit. Most species occur in the tropics, where they are very abundant. More than 77 species in North American .Eucoilines have been reared from hosts from many habitats, and several species have been reared from flies breeding in fruit. The most reliable host records from Tephritidae are for the genera Aganaspis and Odontosema. Many of the species reared from fruits are parasitoids of Drosophilidae, Pnoridae Lonchaeidae, and other flies associated with ripe and decomposing fruit.

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References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL Library]

Buffington, M. L. 2010: The description of Banacuniculus Buffington, new genus (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Eucoilinae). Journal of Hymenoptera research, 19(1): 94–112.

Diaz, N. B., F. E. Gallardo, A. L. Gaddi & G. C. Walsh. 2009: Description of a new genus and species of Eucoilinae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae) parasitoid of Ephydridae (Diptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 102: 603-607.