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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » parasitic Apocrita » Chalcid Wasps (Chalcidoidea)
Photo#75282
Tobacco Hornworm (parasitized)
Copyright © 2003 Hannah Nendick-Mason

Tobacco Hornworm (parasitized)
Oberlin, Ohio, USA
August 24, 2003
I decided to add a close-up of the adult parasitoid from my old caterpillar picture - I wonder if anyone can ID it from this rather fuzzy detail? Kind of looks more like a fly than a wasp, but I really don't know for sure. Would flies make a cocoon like this? Or is this not the creature that came out of these cocoons, just a passing visitor?

I see from further web research that most pupae like this on hornworms are attributed to a braconid wasp, Cotesia congregata.

Images of this individual: tag all
Tobacco Hornworm (parasitized) - Manduca sexta Tobacco Hornworm (parasitized)
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Contributed by Hannah Nendick-Mason on 5 September, 2006 - 4:23pm
Last updated 3 March, 2008 - 10:31am

Moved
Moved from Cotesia congregata.
… Beatriz Moisset, 3 March, 2008 - 10:31am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Carolina Sphinx.
… Beatriz Moisset, 21 July, 2007 - 5:22pm login or register to post comments

Cotesia
I found some info on this parasitic wasp at the U. of Kentucky site. I am becoming convinced that it is Cotesia congregata of the Microgastrinae subfamily.
… Beatriz Moisset, 21 July, 2007 - 4:44pm login or register to post comments

 
Chalcidoid
I'm pretty sure that's a chalcidoid wasp, which is likely a hyperparasitoid of the braconid. Here is a photo of Cotesia congregata.
… Charley Eiseman, 2 March, 2008 - 9:01pm login or register to post comments

 
Oops!
So I was too hasty placing it in Cotesia?
This is even more interesting. What about the other images of presumably Cotesia? I hope that they are right.
… Beatriz Moisset, 3 March, 2008 - 10:30am login or register to post comments

 
Most likely correct---
I'm not an expert, but the photo you linked to certainly looks like a braconid to me.
… Charley Eiseman, 3 March, 2008 - 10:37am login or register to post comments

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