The First Host Association for Aleiodes shawi (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae)

Abstract

Aleiodes Wesmael is a large group of parasitoid wasps, comprising about 220 described species worldwide, and found on every continent except Antarctica. As with other members of the braconid tribe Rogadini, they are koinobiont endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera that mummify the host larva when it dies, and pupate inside the mummy. The mummy is composed of the larval host’s skin, which hardens and darkens into a characteristically shaped structure (Figs. 1, 2), often lined inside with a silken cocoon (Shaw and Huddleston 1991). Before it pupates, the larva usually cuts through the ventral thoracic region of the host mummy and glues the mummy to a substrate (usually leaf or twig). The adult Aleiodes’ exit hole is round and positioned in the dorso-posterior area of the mummy (Shaw 1997) (Figs. 1, 2).