wingless wasp - Gonatopus

Moved

Moved from Dryinids.

… John R. Maxwell, 19 September, 2008 - 11:08pm

cool

this is one of the coolest families of parasitoid wasps, the dryinids. They use planthoppers as hosts and the front legs are raptorial, like a crab's claw.

… Ray Simpson, 10 August, 2008 - 12:57pm

I'll post some larval pics someday.

These are super abundant at my research site, and when my new microscope camera arrives, I will post some photos of dryinid- (& strepsipteran- )parasitized planthoppers. The developing dryinid larva bulges out between the hopper's abdominal segments in a very obvious and grotesque way.

… Mark Fox, 10 August, 2008 - 5:54pm

You can see some images

of Dryinid larvae in the guide here

… john and jane balaban, 12 August, 2008 - 6:32pm

Yep, those look familiar.

Ok, then I guess my dryinid images won't be the first, but I'll stick them up anyway. Please forgive my exuberance, I'm finally ordering my new camera and microscope adapter tomorrow!!

The parasitism rate of my saltmarsh planthoppers is extremely high, both with Elenchid strepsiptera and dryinid wasps, and in many cases, individual hoppers are multiply parasitized. Hopefully I can add some cool new pictures to the collection.

… Mark Fox, 12 August, 2008 - 9:15pm

Absolutely! We're looking forward to your images.

Didn't mean to imply by the link that we already had enough. Just thought folks might want to see what you were talking about. We want to see what they look like through a microscope!

… john and jane balaban, 12 August, 2008 - 11:20pm

Thanks for the encouragement.

Yep, I figured that nobody would seriously object to a few more photos clogging the servers. (I am still hoping that I can put up something new to the guide. It's clearly not going to be easy.)

I'm having a great time uploading my photos, and am inspired by all the amazing shots that are already on the site. It makes me want to learn how to use my camera properly!

… Mark Fox, 13 August, 2008 - 9:28am