Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
 

Register · Log In
Clickable Guide
Interactive image map to choose major taxa Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27
Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps » Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps (Ichneumonoidea) » Braconid Wasps (Braconidae) » Euphorinae

Subfamily Euphorinae

Representative Images

Parasitoid - Microctonus pilatus - female Braconid? - Aridelus nigrithorax - female wasp - Dinocampus coccinellae Unknown Hymenoptera Aphidius? Braconid - Chrysopophthorus americanus - female Braconid wasp - Euphorinae - Microctonus - female Family Braconidae wasp?

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps)
Superfamily Ichneumonoidea (Braconid and Ichneumonid Wasps)
Family Braconidae (Braconid Wasps)
Subfamily Euphorinae

Explanation of Names

Euphorinae Förster, 1863

Numbers

31 genera in the New World(1), >1,150 spp. in ~50 genera total

Size

Most <5 mm

Identification

In some, M1 petiolate; no forewing 2cu-a (1st subdiscal cell open)
vein reduction: in all genera but two (Aridelus, Chrysopophthorus), the 2nd submarginal cell missing

Range

Worldwide

Food

hosts: adult insects of many orders and families, e.g.: Periletus, Dinocampus, Microctonus, Centistes spp. attack beetles; Syntretus attack Hymenoptera; Chrysopopthorus attack Neuroptera; Peristenus, Leiophron, Aridelus, Wesmaelia, Holdawayella & Euphoriella attack nymphal and adult Heteroptera and Psocoptera(1)

Life Cycle

Solitary or, in a few, gregarious, koinobiont endoparasitoids of adult insects(1)

Remarks

The euphorine habit of attacking adult hosts is unusual. Several species of Peristenus and Leiophron are used to control Lygus bugs (Loan & Shaw 1987) and other mirid pests (Loan 1980).
Dinocampus coccinellae attacks ladybird beetles and sometimes considered a pest, although not it's not abundant enough to affect coccinellid populations.

Print References

Loan C.C., Shaw S.R. (1987) Euphorine parasites of Lygus and Adelphocoris (Hymenoptera: Braconidae and Heteroptera: Miridae). Pp. 69‒75 In: Economic importance and biological control of Lygus and Adelphocoris in North America. USDA Agric. Res. Service, ARS-64.
Shaw S.R. (1988) Euphorine phylogeny: the evolution of diversity in host-utilization by parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Ecol. Entomol. 13: 323‒335.

Works Cited

1.Manual of the New World Genera of the Family Braconidae (Hymenoptera)
Wharton, R.A., P.M. Marsh, M.J. Sharkey (Eds). 1997. International Society of Hymenopterists.
Contributed by tom murray on 15 May, 2006 - 5:14pm
Additional contributions by josephfortier, Beatriz Moisset, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 30 August, 2024 - 11:37pm

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2025 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology at Iowa State University logo

Printer Friendly Version 		Terms of Use
Privacy Statement
Site Map
Contact