''Cotesia glomerata'', the white butterfly parasite, is a small

parasitoid wasp Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran Superfamily (zoology), 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, ...

belonging to family

Braconidae The Braconidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. After the closely related Ichneumonidae, braconids make up the second-largest family in the order Hymenoptera, with about 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. One analysis ...

. It was described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in his 1758 publication

10th edition of Systema Naturae The 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' (Latin; the English title is ''A General System of Nature'') is a book written by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus and published in two volumes in 1758 and 1759, which marks the starting point of zoologic ...

Description

Braconidae - Cotesia glomerata - Cocoons

The adults of ''Cotesia glomerata'' can reach a length of . This small braconid wasp is black, with two pairs of wings. It can parasitize a wide range of ''Pieris'' butterfly species as host, but the large white (''

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 rap ...

'') and small white ('' Pieris rapae'') are the main hosts. The adults feed on nectar.

Life cycle

After hatching from the pupae, females mate almost immediately and begin laying eggs.Cornell University College of Agricultural and Life Science
Cotesia (=Apanteles) glomerata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)
The eggs are laid in the larvae of butterflies known as caterpillars, where the ''C. glomerata'' larvae develop; multiple eggs numbering between 16–52 are deposited in each caterpillar. After 15 to 20 days the larvae emerge, usually killing the parasitised caterpillar. These newly emerged larvae spin cocoons in a cluster on or nearby the host caterpillar; after 7 to 10 days the

imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the ''imaginal'' stage ("imaginal" being "imago" in adjective form), the stage in wh ...

adult wasps hatch from these cocoons. Males typically emerge before females and disperse from the area. Overall, it takes between 22 and 30 days for an egg to develop to full adulthood. ''Cotesia glomerata'' is in turn parasitized by the

hyperparasite A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two ot ...

wasps '' Lysibia nana'' and '' Gelis agilis''.

Distribution

This species is present in most of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, in the

Afrotropical realm The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

, the

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is one of eight biogeographic realms that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua Ne ...

, the

Nearctic realm The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

, and the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

References

External links

*
An 9 minute video of the wasps behaviour

{{Taxonbar, from=Q474464 Microgastrinae Cosmopolitan insects Hymenoptera of Africa Hymenoptera of Europe Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of Oceania Hymenoptera of South America Parasitic wasps Wasps described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Description

Life cycle

Distribution

References

Further reading

External links