Agriotypinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

ichneumonid The Ichneumonidae, also known as ichneumon wasps, ichneumonid wasps, ichneumonids, or Darwin wasps, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25,0 ...

parasitoid wasps found in the

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

region. This subfamily contains only one

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, '' Agriotypus''. The known species are aquatic

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 parasitism ...

ectoparasitoids of

Trichoptera The caddisflies (order Trichoptera) are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis ...

pupae. There has been disagreement over the taxonomic placement of ''Agriotypus''. It has variously been placed in

Proctotrupoidea Proctotrupoidea is a hymenopteran superfamily containing seven extant families, though others have been recognized in the past, most of these having been removed to a recently erected superfamily Diaprioidea. Of the remaining families, only Proct ...

and considered a separate family of Ichneumonoidea.

Life cycle

The development of ''Agriotypus armatus'' has been documented on the host '' Silo pallipes'' in a stream in South-West England''.'' The life cycle of the wasps took one year, with adults present in May and June. Eggs were laid in the pupae or prepupae of the host. The larvae underwent 5 larval stages before overwintering as adults in their pupal case. Larval instars 1-4 fed externally on the host, while instar 5 rapidly consumed the entire host body. Before pupating, the larvae built a separate pupal case from silk within the trichopteran pupal case. The wasp pupal case included a 1.5 cm silk ribbon which extended into the water, probably to act as a

plastron The turtle shell is a shield for the ventral and dorsal parts of turtles (the Order (biology), order Testudines), completely enclosing all the turtle's vital organs and in some cases even the head. It is constructed of modified bony elements such ...

. Adults emerged in the spring, after the water temperature had reached 10 degrees C.

References

*Chao, H.F., and Y. Zhang. 1981. Two new species of Agriotypus from Jilin Province (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea, Agriotypidae). ''Entomotaxonomia'' 3:79‑86.

External links

Diagnostic characters
Ichneumonidae Apocrita subfamilies Monotypic insect taxa Monotypic animal subfamilies {{Ichneumonidae-stub