Parasite Wasps - Superfamily MEGALYRIDAE, EVANIOIDEA, ICHNEUMONOIDEA, CHALCIDOIDEA and CHRYSIDIDEA

This page contains pictures and information about Parasite Wasps that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.



Parasitic Wasps are the largest group in Hymenoptera. Because of their parasitic habit, most of them are still unknown.

Their larvae are either parasitic or predators. Most caterpillar are targeted host. Some species attacked other insects and spiders. The female wasp usually locates the food plants of the host then searches with her antennae for a suitable host. The female usually has the long ovipositor which is used to insert eggs into the host body. Some species lay eggs externally and attack the host from outside. The host will usually survive when the larvae is still living. Until the larvae fully grown, the larvae either pupates inside the dead host or form a cocoon outside.

Family MEGALYRIDAE
They are called Long-tailed Wasps because females have the very long ovipositor, some species have "tail" as long as eight times their body length. Larvae in this family are external-parasitoids of wood-boring beetles. The wasp's antenna is 14-segmented. Their head is round like a ball.

Family EVANIIDAE
The wasps have the flat and short abdomen which look like a hatchet. This "hatchet" moves up and down when the wasp walks. They are mostly black in colours. They are parasitic on cockroach oothecae.





Family GASTERUPTIIDAE
The wasps in this family are thin and long, They rest with fore wings fold longitudinally. They are usually black or black with brown in colours, tip of ovipositor is often white and as long as body. They are known to parasite on solitary bee and wasp nests which may be in decaying logs, mud cells or in soil. Larvae consume the host egg or larvae and then the pollen or prey stored.

Parasitic Wasps mainly belong to Family ICHNEUMONIDAE and Family BRACONIDAE. Members in this two families are very similar, the major different is their wings vein which has to be check under microscope for the small species. They have long and thin body, with narrow waist like wasps. Adults are active in day time and feed on flowers. Some species are colourful.

Family ICHNEUMONIDAE
Members in this family have long and thin body, with narrow waist. Adults are active in day time and feed on flowers. Some species are colourful. The female usually has the long ovipositor which is used to insert eggs into the host body. Some species lay eggs externally and attack the host from outside. The host will usually survive when the larvae is still living. Until the larvae fully grown, the larvae either pupates inside the dead host or form a cocoon outside.



Family BRACONIDAE
Members in this family are usually small in size. Their larvae are parasitic. The host will usually survive when the larvae is still living. Until the larvae fully grown, the larvae either pupates inside the dead host or form a cocoon outside. Many aphid parasites are braconid and their life cycles are similar.

Most species in this superfamily are tiny to small in size. Most of them have body length less than 4mm. They are mostly black and some are metallic in colours. They have short elbowed antenna which is 13-seggmented. Their larvae develop as parasites or hyperparasites of other insects or spiders, or live in galls seed or other plant tissue.

Family CHALCIDIDAE
All members in Chalcididae are parasitic. Most attack pupae of moths, butterflies and Diptera. Some parasitise other wasps or beetles. We found a moth pupa and brought it home to see what kind of moth it would be. However we end up saw a small wasp came out from the Pupa.




Family TORYMIDAE
We found one species in this family, which parasitised on mantid oothecae. Its head and thorax were metallic blue in colour, with abdomen from pale brown to dark brown in colour. Its hind legs upper part, or femur, were enlarged and dentate.





Family PTEROMALIDAE
They are the Insect Eggs Parasite Wasps that we cannot identify. They are black in colour with body length 2-3mm long.






Family EUPELMIDAE
Eupelmid wasps are small in size and usually dark in colour, often metallic.

Family CHRYSIDIDAE
There are many Cuckoo Wasp species and they look similar. Usually they are metallic blue or green in colour. Most species are external parasites of other wasp larvae. Females lay eggs in nest of other wasps while the nest host collect food for larvae. Cuckoo Wasp larvae hatch and feed on the food or the host larvae.





Unknown Parasitic Wasps - Wasps in this page are yet to be identified. Please send us email if you know what are they.

Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 930.
2. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
3. What wasp is that? - An interactive identification guide to the Australasian families of Hymenoptera, 2007.
4. Family BRACONIDAE - Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study.