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Photo#1092533
Gonatocerus nr. Morrilli? - female

Gonatocerus nr. Morrilli? - Female
Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA
June 1, 2015
Size: 2 mm
This female was found brood-guarding over two sets of leafhopper eggs (in lantana leaves) from which adult wasps later emerged. Here's a male that emerged from one of the eggs:

From what I can tell from googling, there appears to be a complex of species nr. morrilli.

Bugguide has a page for G. morelli. I think that's a misspelling, so I've posted a forum topic in the Guide Page Improvements forum.

Images of this individual: tag all
Gonatocerus nr. Morrilli? - female dorsal - female wings - female

Moved
Moved from Gonatocerus.

I may move these images to fa
I may move these images to family level. Gonatocerus morrelli is now Cosmocomoidea morrelli, and it seems possible that this specimen is that species, so I'm thinking it's safer to move it to family level than to leave it here under Gonatocerus.

-
Dorsal and wing images added.

Moved
Moved from "Parasitica" (parasitic Apocrita). Thanks, Ross. The females that emerged were indeed perfect likenesses of the mother.

Gonatocerus…
Most of the features that are needed to confirm this genus cannot be seen in these images (need dorsal and wing views); nevertheless, I agree with your diagnosis, and think that the genus level would be a fair place for these right now.

It would be quite difficult to confirm a species ID, unless you have a lot more detailed images and/or the species name of the host leafhopper (which would at least help to narrow it down some).

It also seems likely that these images are of the same species, so I would also link them together, especially if the protective mother looked the same or very similar to any of the females that later emerged.

See reference here.

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