HD -Thibetoides aprosthemae parasitizes different Aprosthema larvae

Thibetoides aprosthemae Shaw, 2018 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Tryphoninae) is an ectoparasitoid which was reared for the first time in 2014 from a summer cocoon of the sawfly larvae of Aprosthema tardum (Klug, 1814) (Hymenoptera: Argidae).
In 2019 a second female was reared, also from a summer cocoon of the sawfly Aprosthema tardum, which parasitized a number of Aprosthema larvae, whereby the behavior and the way of oviposition was captured on film.
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 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. When the mature host larva makes its cocoon, the parasitoid larva will 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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Argidae: Aprosthema tardum life-cycle
• Argidae: Aprosthema ta...
PDF: The life-history of Aprosthema tardum (Klug, 1814) (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinoidea, Argidae)
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