Remarks
They are koinobiont
1 endoparasitoids; hosts are mostly Lepidoptera, Symphyta and a few attack Coleoptera. (Koinobionts allow for further host development to occur before the host is destroyed. Koinobiont endoparasitism allows the parasitoid to oviposit inside conspicuous hosts, while using the host's pupation concealment to secure continued development.)
"Gauld (1984) writes about certain campoplegines that emerge from the host before it reaches the final instar: 'the parasite generally spins a characteristic greyish or blotched cocoon attached to the host’s food plant. In such a situation the cocoon is particularly vulnerable to being secondarily parasitized by small phygaduontines and pimplines. Consequently campoplegines have adopted a number of ruses to avoid parasites. Some species (e.g. Charops) suspend their cocoon from the plant by a long thread and many also have black and white blotched cocoons that resemble bird droppings. Some other species construct a false cocoon above the real one whilst the mature larvae of a few genera (e.g. Spudastica and some Phobocampe) are able to cause their cocoons to jump.'" - quoted from correspondence with Dr. Andrew Bennett, Curator of Hymenoptera, Canadian National Collection of Insects
Print References
Gauld, I.D. 1984. An introduction to the Ichneumonidae of Australia. British Museum (Natural History) Publication 895. 413 pp.
Shaw, M.R. & R.R. Askew. 1983. Parasites. Chapter 2 in Heath, J (Editor): The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 1 Micropterigidae - Heliozelidae. Harley Books. pp.24-56 [many photos of cocoons]
