The Cheloninae are a

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

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 ...

braconid 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 ...

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, ...

Description

Most Cheloninae are small and uniformly colored. They have a characteristic

metasoma The metasoma is the posterior part of the body, or tagma (biology), tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the mesosoma. In insects, it contains most of the digestive tract, respiratory sy ...

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

formed from the fusion of the first three

tergite A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; : ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The Anatomical terms of location#Anterior ...

Biology

They are solitary

koinobiont 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 ...

s which

parasitize Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ento ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

, especially

Pyraloidea The Pyraloidea (pyraloid moths or snout moths) are a moth superfamily containing about 16,000 described species worldwide, and probably at least as many more remain to be described. They are generally fairly small moths, and as such, they have ...

and Tortricoidea, but also other

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

whose

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e bore in stems, buds or fruits. Chelonines are egg-larval parasitoids, meaning they

oviposit The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...

into a host egg, but the wasp larvae do not complete development until the caterpillar has hatched and matured. Chelonines carry

polydnavirus ''Polydnaviriformidae'' ( PDV) is a family of insect viriforms; members are known as polydnaviruses. There are two genera in the family: '' Bracoform'' and '' Ichnoviriform''. Polydnaviruses form a symbiotic relationship with parasitoid wasps. ...

es which aid in overcoming their hosts' immune system.

Genera

Genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

placed in Cheloninae include: * '' Ascogaster'' Wesmael, 1835 (

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

?) * '' Austroascogaster'' Kittel and Austin, 2014 * ''

Chelonus ''Chelonus'' is a wasp genus in the subfamily Cheloninae. Their larvae feed chiefly on larvae of moths in superfamilies Tortricoidea and Pyraloidea.Shaw, S.R. 1997. Subfamily Cheloninae. Species * '' Chelonus abditus'' * '' Chelonus abduc ...

'' Panzer, 1806 * '' Dentigaster'' Zettel, 1990 * ''† Diodontogaster'' Brues, 1933 * ''† Eobracon'' Cockerell, 1920 * '' Huseyinia'' Koçak and Kemal, 2008 * '' Leptochelonus'' Zettel, 1990 * '' Leptodrepana'' Shaw, 1990 * '' Megascogaster'' Baker, 1926 * '' Odontosphaeropyx'' Cameron, 1910 * '' Phanaustrotoma'' Kittel and Austin, 2014 * '' Phanerotoma'' Wesmael, 1838 * '' Phanerotomella'' Szépligeti, 1900 * '' Phanerotomoides'' Zettel, 1990 * '' Pseudophanerotoma'' Zettel, 1990 * '' Siniphanerotomella'' He et al., 1994 * '' Wushenia'' Zettel, 1990 Previously belonging to the Adeliinae, but now confirmed to be nested within Cheloninae in the tribe Adeliini are: * '' Adelius'' Haliday, 1834 * '' Paradelius'' de Saeger, 1942 * '' Sinadelius'' He and Chen, 2000 * '' Sculptomyriola'' Belokobylskij, 1988

References

External links

photos o
BugGuide.net
Braconidae Apocrita subfamilies {{Ichneumonoidea-stub