''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 ...

s in the family

Ichneumonidae 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 ...

. There are two species in Europe:

Biology

''Latibulus argiolus'' 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 ...

which lies in wait in the near proximity of a ''

Polistes ''Polistes'' is a cosmopolitan genus of paper wasps and the only genus in the tribe Polistini. Vernacular names for the genus include umbrella wasps, coined by Walter Ebeling in 1975 to distinguish it from other types of paper wasp, in refer ...

'' 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 (; : 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 ...

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

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 ...

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