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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps » Unidentified parasitoid immatures
Photo#308907
Another goldenrod gall resident
Copyright © 2009 Beatriz Moisset

Another goldenrod gall resident
Pennypack Restoration Trust, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA
July 13, 2009
Size: 2 mm.
This is one of the parasitoids of the gall maker. It may be the same species or a different one than the others found inside similar galls


This is the host, the midge Asphondylia solidaginis
Please, compare the size of the host and the parasitoid; they are about the same size. This is puzzling to me. A parasitoid should be smaller, unless it is feeding on something else in addition to the host. Does it feed on the plant or the symbiotic fungus, or what?
More on goldenrod gall fauna

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Another goldenrod gall resident Another goldenrod gall resident - Asphondylia solidaginis
Contributed by Beatriz Moisset on 23 July, 2009 - 2:01pm
Last updated 1 January, 2019 - 10:24am

Moved
Moved from Chalcid Wasps.
… Bob Zuparko, 24 February, 2018 - 12:43pm

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Beatriz Moisset, 31 July, 2009 - 7:44am

amazin shot!
i have always wondered what was inside those!
… squidpillow, 23 July, 2009 - 7:58pm

Looks like a chalcid
I'm not sure about the answer to your question about size. Since there are plant-feeding chalcids, it seems plausible that this species feeds on the plant in addition to, or instead of, the fly larva. I hope you get a more definite answer from someone.
… Charley Eiseman, 23 July, 2009 - 4:37pm

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