''Latibulus'' is a genus of

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

s in the family

Ichneumonidae The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25,000 species cu ...

. There are two species in Europe:

Biology

''Latibulus argiolus'' is a parasitoid which lies in wait in the near proximity of a ''

Polistes Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus ''Polistes'' (the only genus in the tribe Polistini) are the most familiar of the polistine wasps, and are the most common type of paper wasp in North America. Walter Ebeling coined the vernacular name "umbrel ...

'' paper wasp nest waiting for an opportunity for penetration and then, within a few seconds, lays an egg into a nest cell. The biology of the

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 ...

is unknown. There are two generations per year. The first emerges in the summer after

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''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 ...

tion takes place in a yellowish cocoon within the cell; the second generation winters in a brown, resistant cocoon. The pupa of the second generation is able to break through the cell cover by making jerky movements. The pupa falls to the ground, looks for a recess by making rolling movements, and winters there.

References

* S. Makino, 1983: Biology of ''Latibulus argiolus'' (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), a parasitoid of the paper wasp ''Polistes biglumis'' (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) iology''Kontyu'' 51:426-434, 1983

External links

www.hornissenschutz.de: Fotos der Puppenstadien

National Agricultural University of Ukraine: Literaturelink (Russian / English)

Hymis Forum
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15644446 Cryptinae Ichneumonidae genera Taxa named by Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel