Parasites of grass flies (Diptera, Chloropidae) from the order hymenoptera in the Holarctic region

Abstract

Hymenopterous parasitoids of grass flies of the family Chloropidae from the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions are reviewed. These parasitoids belong to four superfamilies and 16 families of Hymenoptera and were reared from 39 species of Chloropidae in the Palaearctic (less than 6% of the fauna) and only from 10 species in the Nearctic Region. The majority of parasitoids are oligo-or polyphagous species. To a certain degree, the parasitoids are specialized on one of the three host groups: (1) species developing in shoots of cereal and meadow grasses; (2) forest species developing in cones of coniferous trees; and (3) species associated with the common reed, Phragmites australis. In the Palaearctic Region, the majority of parasitoids (91 species) were reared from Oscinella frit L. s. 1.; a significantly smaller number of these parasites is known from this host in the Nearctic Region, nearly half of the parasitoids being common for both regions. The next large group of parasitoids is associated with gall-inducing species of the genus Lipara Meigen (59 species) developing in the common reed. By contrast with two other groups of parasitoids, this one includes many species of the family Ichneumonidae. It should be noted that taxonomic diversity at the third trophic level is markedly greater than at the second level.