F-532019 
Figure 205.—The parasite Jelenomus alsophilae 
ovipositing in eggs of fall cankerworm. 
Muesebeck, an important parasite of the Comstock mealybug, has been widely 
released in the Eastern United States. Two native species, A. ashmeadi Muesebeck 
and A. convexifrons Muesebeck, also are important parasites of the Comstock 
mealybug. 
Superfamily Bethyloidea—Family Chrysididae 
Cuckoo Wasps 
Members of this family are brilliantly metallic blue and green wasps and are 
popularly known as gold or cuckoo wasps. The majority of species are external 
parasites of various wasps and bees. A number of species deposit their eggs in the 
cells of their hosts, and the larvae feed on the original occupants of the cells or on 
the food prepared for them. 
Chrysis shanghaiensis Smith, the only species known to be parasitic upon 
lepidopterous larvae, was introduced to Massachusetts from Japan in 1917 and 1918 
against the oriental moth, also an introduced species. Recoveries were made the 
year following its release (956), but it has not been recorded since that time. 
Subfamily Cleptinae 
This subfamily is represented in North America by one genus, Cleptes, which is 
represented by seven species. One of these, C. semiauratus (L.), occurs in the East. 
All parasitize sawflies in their cocoons (697). 
Subfamily Amiseginae 
Mesitiopterus kahlii Ashmead, M. floridensis Krombein, Microsega bella 
Krombein, and Ade/phe anisomorphae Krombein are egg parasites of walk- 
ingsticks. 
Family Bethylidae 
Bethylid Wasps 
Members of the family Bethylidae are parasitic almost exclusively on the larvae 
of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. More than 100 species have been recorded from the 
United States, about two-thirds of which occur in the eastern portion of the country. 
The adults are small to medium in size. Females are often wingless and antlike and 
differ so much in appearance from the males that the two sexes are not easily 
correlated. 
A number of species of the genus Sclerodermus are often parasitic on larvae of 
the family Cerambycidae. Additional species of importance as parasites of forest 
insects and their hosts are Pseudisobrachium prolongatum (Provancher)—black 
carpenter ant; Parasierola punctaticeps Kieffer—hickory shuckworm; Goniozus 
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