Numbers
31 genera in the New World (Shaw, S.R. 1997. Family Euphorinae. In:
(1))
Size
Most are less than 5 mm long.
Identification
various degrees of wing vein and cell reduction. In all except 2 genera (
Aridelus and
Chrysopophthorus), the 2nd submarginal cell is missing. See
diagram of generalized braconid wing cells
For terms and diagrams showing braconid wing veins and body parts, see pp. 98-99 in
(2)Range
World wide. In the New World, most diverse in the tropics.
Food
Generally, adult insects in a wide diversity of orders and families across this subfamily. Some examples:
Genera that attack beetles: Periletus Nees, Dinocampus Foerster, Microctonus Wesmael, Centistes Haliday.
Hymenoptera: Syntretus Foerster
Neuroptera: Chrysopopthorus Goidanich
Nymphal and adult Heteroptera and Psocoptera:
Peristenus Foerster,
Leiophron Nees,
Aridelus, Wesmaelia Foerster,
Holdawayella Loan,
Euphoriella Ashmead. (Shaw S.R. 1997. Subfamily Euphorinae. In:
(1))
Life Cycle
Solitary or, in a few, gregarious, koinobiont endoparasitoids of adult insects. (Shaw, S.R. 1997. Family Euphorinae. In:
(1)). For life cycle info and terminology
Click here.
Remarks
The habit of euphorine braconids of attacking the adult stage of hosts is unusual in Hymenoptera.
Several species of Peristenus and Leiophron are used as biocontrol agents for lygus bugs (Loan and S. Shaw 1987) and other pests in family Miridae (Loan, 1980).
Dinocampus coccinellae (Shrank), which attacks ladybird beetles, is sometimes considered a pest because the host is a beneficial insect that attacks aphids. But D. coccinellae is generally not sufficiently abundant to seriously affect ladybird beetle populations.
Print References
Loan, C.C. 1980. Plant bug hosts (Heteroptera: Miridae) of some euphorine parasites (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) near Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Le Naturaliste Canadiene 101: 821-860.
Loan, C.C. and S.R. Shaw. 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. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, ARS-64.
Shaw, S.R. 1988. Euphorine phylogeny: the evolution of diversity in host-utilization by parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Ecological Entomology 13: 323-335.
Shaw, S.R. 1997. Subfamily Euphorinae. In
(1)
