The Cheloninae are a

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

subfamily of

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 analys ...

parasitoid 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 ...

Description

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

metasoma The metasoma is the posterior part of the body, or 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 system, and circula ...

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 und ...

formed from the fusion of the first three

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 ...

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 parasiti ...

s which

parasitize Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

Lepidoptera, 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 b ...

and

Tortricoidea The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genu ...

, but also other

taxa In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural 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 n ...

whose

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

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 typica ...

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

polydnavirus A polydnavirus (PDV) is a member of the family ''Polydnaviridae'' of insect viruses. There are two genera in the family: ''Bracovirus'' and ''Ichnovirus''. Polydnaviruses form a symbiotic relationship with parasitoid wasps; (ichnoviruses (IV) o ...

es which aid in overcoming their hosts' immune system.

Genera

Genera 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 ...

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

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

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