''Eurytoma obtusiventris'' is a species of chalcid wasp in the family

Eurytomidae The Eurytomidae are a family within the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Unlike most chalcidoids, the larvae of many are phytophagous (feeding in stems, seeds, or galls), while others are more typical parasitoids, though even then the hosts are usuall ...

. It is found in North America and is a

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

of '' Eurosta solidaginis''. The wasp attacks after oviposition but prior to the formation of a

gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or war ...

. ''Eurytoma obtusiventris'' prompts the ''Eurosta solidaginis'' larvae to create a

pupa A pupa (; : 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 life cycle, the stages th ...

, which the wasp will use after consuming its host. They typically consume the host in autumn and overwinter within the gall, emerging during the summer.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13628658 Hymenoptera of North America Parasitic wasps Insects described in 1934 Eurytomidae