A NEW BRACONID GENUS (HYMENOPTERA) 
PARASITIZING WEBSPINNERS (EMBIIDINA) 
IN TRINIDAD 
By Scott R. Shaw 1 and Janice S. Edgerly 2 
Early in 1984, while conducting field studies on embiid behavior 
in the Arima valley of northern Trinidad, the junior author ob- 
served a braconid wasp ovipositing into the silk webs of an embiid, 
Clothoda urichi (Saussure) [Clothodidae]. The wasp and a para- 
lyzed embiid were collected, and another wasp was successfully 
reared from that host. Specimens were sent to the senior author, 
then stationed at the National Museum of Natural History 
(USNM), who determined it to be a new braconid genus. A search 
of the USNM collection yielded no comparable specimens; how- 
ever, during a subsequent search of the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology (MCZ) collection a specimen of a different, but related, 
species was found. Shenefelt (1980) provided a comprehensive index 
to recorded braconid hosts, which does not include any Embiidina. 
Callan (1952) mentioned that he collected numerous white cocoons 
from embiid webs in Trinidad, and he reared a braconid from these 
which was identified only as “ Apanteles sp.” He suggested that these 
were parasites of lepidopterous larvae that sometimes live under the 
silk, not parasites of the webspinners. The establishment of this new 
genus as a parasite of webspinners therefore provides a totally new 
host order record for the family Braconidae. 
The morphological terminology used in this paper is mostly that of 
Marsh (1965, 1982) and van Achterberg (1974). Microsculpture 
terminology is that of Harris (1979). Taxonomic descriptions pre- 
sented in this paper are solely the work of the senior author, while 
life history information on the parasite and its host was provided by 
the junior author. 
'Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 
02138 . 
department of Entomology, Comstock Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 
14853 . 
Manuscript received by the editor June 12, 1985. 
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