Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Microgaster, Apanteles in part, Cotesia Cameron
Numbers
Nearctica lists 77 species.
Food
Hosts: Armyworm, bollworm, cabbage looper, cabbageworm, celery looper, corn earworm, cutworm, diamondback moth, gypsy moth, hornworm, stem borer, tobacco budworm, webworm.
Life Cycle
Click on an image to view the life cycle:
Larvae that build their cocoons in late winter will overwinter as larvae and pupate in the spring of the following year (Fulton BB. 1940. The hornworm parasite, Apanteles congregatus (Say) and the hyperparasite, Hypopteromalus tabacum (Fitch). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 33: 231-244.)
Adult female Cotesia marginiventris must locate caterpillars to parasitize before the end of the host's second instar.
Remarks
Two species have been introduced to combat the cabbageworm (
Pieris rapae),
C. glomerata and
C. rubecula, (
Florida Entomologist.
Internet References
University of Florida.
Cotesia marginiventris.