Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Leucospididae Cameron, 1883 - invalid, unjustified emendation (ITIS)
Numbers
Nearctica lists only one genus Leucospis with 6 species.
Identification
Usually black and yellow. They are stout insects, they fold wings longitudinally at rest and look a little like small yellowjackets. The ovipositor is long and curves forward and upward over the abdomen, ending over the posterior part of the thorax. Like the Chalcidids they have the hind femora greatly swollen and toothed on the ventral side.
Life Cycle
The eggs are relatively large (3mm in length in Leucospis gigas), whitish, curved and tapering to one end. They are deposited externally on the host larva or nearby. The first instar larva does not take any food at first but searches the host cell for competitors; in all cases only one parasitoid larva survives and develops as an ectoparasitoid sucking the body fluids of the host larva.
The development from the deposited egg to emergence of the adult depends largely on temperature and takes about three weeks under optimal conditions in Leucospis japonica and five weeks in L. affinis and L. hopei.
Natural History Museum UKRemarks
Parasites of bees and wasps. They are rather rare but may be found on flowers.
Print References
Grissell, E. E., and M. E. Schauff. 1990. A handbook of the families of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Entomological Society of Washington (Washington, D.C.) Handbook 1:1-85.
Internet References
ITIS - for taxonomy and nomenclature.
