''Pimpla'' are a worldwide
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of the
parasitic wasp
Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps ( Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later cau ...
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Ichneumonidae
The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25,000 species cu ...
.
''Pimpla'' species are
idiobiont
In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasiti ...
endoparasitoids of
Holometabola
Endopterygota (from Ancient Greek ''endon'' 'inner' + ''pterón'' 'wing' + New Latin ''-ota'' 'having'), also known as Holometabola, is a superorder of insects within the infraclass Neoptera that go through distinctive larval, pupal, and adult st ...
, often the
pupa
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
e of
Lepidoptera. For instance, the common ''
Pimpla rufipes'' parasitizes ''
Pieris brassicae
''Pieris brassicae'', the large white, also called cabbage butterfly, cabbage white, cabbage moth (erroneously), or in India the large cabbage white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is a close relative of the small white, '' Pieris ...
'' and ''
Lymantria dispar
''Lymantria dispar'', also known as the gypsy moth or the spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. ''Lymantria dispar'' is subdivided into several subspecies, with subspecies such as ''L. d. dispar'' and ''L. d. japonica'' be ...
''.
They are generally sturdy black wasps with orange markings. The first
tergite
A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'mar ...
is box-like with the
spiracle anterior to the middle.
This genus includes about 200
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
.
Selected species
* ''
Pimpla aethiops''
Curtis 1828
* ''
Pimpla apricaria''
Costa 1885
* ''
Pimpla arcadica''
Kasparyan 1973
* ''
Pimpla arctica''
Zetterstedt 1838
* ''
Pimpla artemonis''
Kasparyan 1973
* ''
Pimpla contemplator''
(Muller 1776)
* ''
Pimpla coxalis''
Habermehl 1917
* ''
Pimpla dimidiatus''
(Townes, 1960)
* ''
Pimpla dorsata''
(Dalla Torre 1901)
* ''
Pimpla flavicoxis''
Thomson 1877
* ''
Pimpla glandaria''
Costa 1886
* ''
Pimpla hesperus''
(Townes, 1960)
* ''
Pimpla illecebrator''
(Villers 1789)
* ''
Pimpla insignatoria''
(Gravenhorst 1807)
* ''
Pimpla melanacrias''
Perkins 1941
* ''
Pimpla murinanae''
Fahringer 1943
* ''
Pimpla nigrohirsuta''
Strobl 1902
* ''
Pimpla processioneae''
Ratzeburg 1849
* ''
Pimpla rufipes''
(Miller 1759) - (syn. ''Pimpla instigator'') - black slip wasp
* ''
Pimpla sodalis''
Ruthe 1859
* ''
Pimpla spuria''
Gravenhorst 1829
* ''
Pimpla stricklandi''
(Townes, 1960)
* ''
Pimpla turionellae''
(C. Linnaeus, 1758)
* ''
Pimpla varians''
(Townes, 1960)
* ''
Pimpla wilchristi''
Fitton, Shaw & Gauld 1988
Distribution
The distribution of these wasps is Afrotropical, Eastern and Western Palaearctic, European, Nearctic, Palaearctic, Neotropical.
Gallery
File:Ichneumonidae - Pimpla sp..JPG, ''Pimpla'' sp.
File:Pimpla.turionellae2.-.lindsey.jpg, ''Pimpla turionellae''
File:Tromatobia.ovivora.-.lindsey.jpg, ''Pimpla ovivora''
File:Pimpla female.jpg, ''Pimpla'' sp., female
See also
*
List of ''Pimpla'' species
References
*Gavin Broa
''Identification key to the subfamilies of Ichneumonidae''''Fauna Europaea''''BioLib.cz''
*
''Taxonomicon''
Pimplinae
Ichneumonidae genera
Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius
{{Ichneumonidae-stub