BIOMI 3310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Braconidae, Pupa, Hyperparasite
10 May 2018
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Lecture 23: Coleoptera and Hymenoptera
Coleoptera: beetles
• Rare as parasites
• Wingless, eyeless, and dorsoventrally flattened
• Platypsyllus castoris: ectoparasites on beavers
o Parasitic as larvae and adults
• Feed on epidermal tissue and fatty skin secretions produced by the host
o Pupa lives on the floor of the beaver lodge
Hymenoptera: parasitoid wasps; "membrane wings"
• 4 clear wings
• Thin waist (between the thorax and the abdomen)
• Sting
• Many are parasitoids
• Divided into 2 Groups:
o Symphyta: no waist-like constriction
o Apocrita: contains most of the parasitoid forms
• Aculeata
▪ Ampulex compressa: emerald jewel wasp
• Common in the tropics - more abundant during warm seasons
• Females sting a cockroach twice, delivering venom.
• Sting specific ganglia in the roach
• 1st sting injects venom to a thoracic ganglion, mildly and reversibly
paralyzing the insect's front legs.
• 2nd sting is to the roach's brain, in the section that controls the
escape reflex.
• Wasp chews off 1/2 of each of the roach's antennae.
• Pulls on one of the roach's antennae (like a leash), leading it back to
the wasp's burrow.
• Inside the burrow, the wasp lays a white egg on the roach's
abdomen.
• The wasp fills in the burrow entrance with pebbles (to keep
predators out, not to keep the roach in).
• Roach will rest in the burrow as the wasp egg hatches (~3 days later)
• The larva lives and feeds for 4-5 days on the roach. It chews its way
into its abdomen and then lives as an endoparasitoid.
• Over the next 8 days, the larva consumes the roach's internal organs
in an order which guaranees the roach's survival, at least until the
larva pupates.
• Weeks later, the fully grown wasp emerges from the roach.
• Adults live for several months
▪ Hemipepsis: adults feed on nectar and pollen
• Larvae feed on tarantulas
• After mating, females search the ground for tarantulas or occupied
tarantula burrows.
• If they find a burrow, they coax the tarantula out by vibrating the
silk webbing at the burrow entrance (the way prey would).
• Female stings the tarantula, paralyzing it.
Document Summary
Coleoptera: beetles: rare as parasites, wingless, eyeless, and dorsoventrally flattened, platypsyllus castoris: ectoparasites on beavers, parasitic as larvae and adults. Feed on epidermal tissue and fatty skin secretions produced by the host: pupa lives on the floor of the beaver lodge. Thin waist (between the thorax and the abdomen) Sting: 4 clear wings, many are parasitoids, divided into 2 groups, symphyta: no waist-like constriction, apocrita: contains most of the parasitoid forms, aculeata, ampulex compressa: emerald jewel wasp, common in the tropics - more abundant during warm seasons. Inside the burrow, the wasp lays a white egg on the roach"s abdomen. The wasp fills in the burrow entrance with pebbles (to keep predators out, not to keep the roach in): roach will rest in the burrow as the wasp egg hatches (~3 days later) The larva lives and feeds for 4-5 days on the roach. Larvae feed on tarantulas: after mating, females search the ground for tarantulas or occupied tarantula burrows.
