HD - The life cycle of Thibetoides aprosthemae

Thibetoides aprosthemae Shaw, 2018 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae) is an ectoparasitoid which was reared for the first time in 2014 from a summer cocoon made by a sawfly larvae of Aprosthema tardum (Klug, 1814) (Hymenoptera: Argidae).
Usually a second or third instar host larva, between 4 and 8 mm, is parasitized with single external egg, deposited behind the third thoracic leg. The host larva must still undergo two more moults and because the external egg is anchored in deeper layers of the skin of the host, it stays in place. 7 days after oviposition, the first instar ectoparasitoid larva is moving inside its egg. The larva begins to feed on the haemolymph of the still active host larva, after 11 days. Only when the mature host larva makes its cocoon will the parasitoid larva complete its development. When the parasitoid larva is fully grown, it makes its own cocoon inside the host's cocoon. The host Aprosthema tardum has at least 3 generations in a season, and the larva overwinters in a winter cocoon in the leaf litter. The Aprosthema larvae of the first generation usually make summer cocoons, on or in the immediate vicinity of the Lathyrus latifolius plant on which they have fed.
Thibetoides aprosthemae has at least two generations and has been reared from both summer and winter cocoons of A. tardum, overwintering in the latter. The ground colour of the yellow-banded abdomen varies from reddish to black.
Shaw, M.R., Kan, P., Kan-van Limburg Stirum, B. & Wahl, DB. (2022) - Biological and morphological studies on the parasitoids (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) of Aprosthema tardum (Klug) (Hymenoptera, Argidae, Sterictiphorinae) in Var, southern France. Journal of Hymenoptera Research.
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For more information of the host species see the video: The life-cycle of Aprosthema tardum
• Argidae: Aprosthema ta...
PDF: The life-history of Aprosthema tardum (Klug, 1814) (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinoidea, Argidae)
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