INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 611 
ENTOMOPHAGOUS CHALCID-FLIES 
FamiIry CALLIMOMIDAE (TORYMIDAE) 
Most of the species belonging to the family Callimomidae are para- 
sites of gall-forming insects. Nevertheless, insects of many orders are 
parasitized and a number of species are phytophagous. 
Monodontomerus dentipes Dim. is a European species that is also 
present in the Northeastern States. It may have been introduced with 
its Kuropean host, Dzprion simile. It has proved to be one of the most 
effective natural enemies of the introduced pine sawfly in New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Ontario, and frequently a very high 
percentage of cocoons are parasitized. It has also been reared from 
the cocoons of a number of other species of sawflies in the Northeast. 
In Europe it has been recorded from a number of hymenopterous 
and lepidopterous hosts and frequently as a secondary parasite on 
various ichneumonids and braconids. It has been bred commonly 
from Diprion pint and is one of the most important parasites of 
D. hercyniain Europe (Morris, Cameron, and Jepson 305). The adult 
is dark, metallic, greenish blue, about 14 inch long. The wings are 
faintly clouded with brown, and the stigmal area has a distinct brown 
patch. The ovipositor is prominently exserted. A female always lays 
more than one egg, usually 5 or 6, in a sawfly cocoon. The larva feeds 
externally on the prepupa and may take 3 to 4 weeks to reach maturity. 
The larva hibernates in the prepupal stage inside the host cocoon, 
pupation taking place in April and the first adults emerging in May. 
There are probably 2 generations a year. Adults have been found on 
the wing throughout the whole summer. As many as 12 have been 
reared from a single cocoon of )). hercyniae, but the average is 41%. 
Faminy CHALCIDIDAE 
The family Chalcididae contains many primary and secondary 
parasites of lepidopterous larvae and pupae, while others are para- 
sites of Diptera and Coleoptera. 
Brachymeria compsilurae (Cwfd.) is a North American species, 
which, so far as is known, acts solely as a parasite of tachinid flies. 
It is particularly destructive to Compsilura concinnata Meig. and 
Sturmia scutellata Rond., which are European species successfully 
established in New England against the gypsy moth. The adult is 
about 3/16 inch long, black, with prominent yellow tegulae and yellow 
markings on the legs, and possessing the large swollen coxae typical 
of the family. Dowden (734) wrote on the biology of this species, 
as well as on that of B. intermedia (Nees), a primary parasite of the 
gypsy moth in Europe. B. compsilurae overwinters as a full-grown 
larva within its host puparium. It develops only one generation in 
single-generation tachinids, but passes through two or three genera- 
tions in multibrooded host species. The female oviposits through 
the primary lepidopterous host pupa or larva, laying an internal egg 
in the tachinid maggot. The tachinid host larva is probably located 
through a sense of smell. Development from egg to adult is internal 
and requires from 3 weeks to about a month during the summer. 
Adult Brachymeria emerge by cutting a circular cap off the anterior 
end of the host puparium. Spring emergence begins about June 1 
in New England. 
