''Leucospis dorsigera'' is a species of wasp belonging to the family

Leucospidae The Leucospidae (sometimes incorrectly spelled Leucospididae) are a specialized group of wasps within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, that are ectoparasitoids of aculeata, aculeate wasps or bees. They are typically mimicry, mimics of bees or sting ...

Distribution and habitat

This widely distributed species occurs from Eastern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

through Europe (

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) to

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

.Shahram Hesami, Mohammad Ali Akrami, and Hannes Bau
Leucospis dorsigera Fabricius (Hymenoptera, Leucospidae) as a Hyperparasitoid of Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) through Xoridinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in Iran
/ref> ''Leucospis dorsigera'' inhabits meadows and

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

s and other areas where their hosts are abundant.

Description

''Leucospis dorsigera'' can reach a length of .J.K. Lindse
Ecology of Commanster
/ref> This rather variable vespid-like specie mimics a stinging wasp. Body is quite robust, with yellow stripes on a black ground color. The fore wings are folded longitudinally. The hind

femora The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The top of the femur fits in ...

are swollen and toothed along the lower margin, with a large median and short lateral teeth. The female shows a relatively short gaster and the

ovipositor 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 ...

is turned up, lies along the dorsal side of the

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 ...

and just reaches to the base of the gaster. In the males the fusion of many of the metasomal segments to form a capsule-like "

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 ...

Biology

Adults can be found from May to July. They mainly feed on nectar and pollen of ''

Angelica sylvestris ''Angelica sylvestris'' or wild angelica is a species of flowering plant, native to Europe and central Asia. An annual or short-lived perennial growing to a maximum of , it has erect purplish stems and rounded umbels of minuscule white or pale ...

'', ''

Heracleum sphondylium ''Heracleum sphondylium'', commonly known as hogweed or common hogweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, which includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and Heracleum mantegazzianum, giant hogweed. It is native to m ...

'' and '' Scorzoneroides autumnalis''. This species is an

ectoparasitoid 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 ...

of aculeate wasps or

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s. Females penetrate with the long

into the bark of trees where they have located the larvae of these insects. Then they lay the eggs in the body of these larvae, that will be eaten by the newly-born wasps. Females especially parasitize larvae belonging to the family

Megachilidae Megachilidae is a cosmopolitan family of mostly solitary bees. Characteristic traits of this family are the restriction of their pollen-carrying structure (called a '' scopa'') to the ventral surface of the abdomen (rather than mostly or exclu ...

, genera '' Anthidiellum'', ''

Anthidium ''Anthidium'' is a genus of bees often called carder or potter bees, who do not cut leaves, but use conifer resin, plant hairs, mud, or a mix of them to build nests. Like other members of the family Megachilidae (most of which are called "leafcut ...

'', ''

Hoplitis ''Hoplitis'' is a genus of bees in the family Megachilidae. There are more than 380 described species in ''Hoplitis''. See also * List of Hoplitis species This is a list of 385 species in '' Hoplitis'', a genus of leafcutter, mason, and resi ...

'' and ''

Osmia Mason bee is a name now commonly used for species of bees in the genus ''Osmia'', of the family Megachilidae. Mason bees are named for their habit of using mud or other "masonry" products in constructing their nests, which are made in naturally o ...

''.Pietro Zandigiacomo, Filippo Michele Buian and Angela Bravi
Reperti di Leucospis dorsigera (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Leucospidae) nella Pianura veneta orientale
/ref> Larvae of ''Leucospis dorsigera'' also feed on larvae of ''

Chelostoma florisomne ''Chelostoma florisomne'', the large scissor-bee, is a species of hymenopteran in the family Megachilidae. Etymology The Latin species name ''florisomne'' refers to the habit of some males to sleep inside the buttercup flowers. Distribution and ...

'' and other larvae of

Apidae Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...

(

Megachilinae Megachilinae is the largest subfamily of bees in the family Megachilidae.Pascarella, J. BMegachilinae.The Bees of Florida. Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida. It includes mason bees, leafcutter bees, and carder bees. *Tr ...

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 ...

('' Xorides corcyrensis'',

Xoridinae Xoridinae are a worldwide subfamily of the parasitic wasp family Ichneumonidae. Xoridinae are idiobiont ectoparasitoids of wood‑boring Coleoptera and Hymenoptera (Symphyta). Most parasitize larvae. There are four genera Genus (; : gener ...

) and Bostrychidae (

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

Bibliography

* Klug, F. (1818) European species of , Leucospis, ., JOURBOOK: Isis, Jena Vol.: 2(9) Pg: 1475 * Boucek, Z. (1974) A revision of the Leucospidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) of the world., JOURBOOK: Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology Vol.: Supplement 23 Pg: 241pp * Dalla Torre, K.W. von (1898) Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. V. Chalcididae et, Pg: 598pp * Walker, F. (1862) Characters of undescribed species of the genus , Leucospis, ., JOURBOOK: Journal of Entomology Vol.: 1 Pg: 16-23 * Westwood, J.O. (1834) On , Leucospis, , a genus of hymenopterous insects., JOURBOOK: Entomological Magazine VOLUME: 2(2) PAGES: 212-218

References

External links

* *
Luciana Bartolini

Biolib

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13399917 Chalcidoidea Insects described in 1775 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius