Deducing how tropical rhyssines (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) mate from body measurements

By

Keronen, Sanna
Sääksjärvi, Ilari E.
Hopkins, Tapani

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021

Original Publication

Journal of Hymenoptera research

Volume

86

Pages

93--100

Subjects

Amazon Malaise trapping 2000 , Darwin wasps , Ichneumonidae , Rhyssinae , Uganda Malaise trapping 2014–2015

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Washington, D.C International Society of Hymenopterists

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.86.71615

 

Abstract

The biology of many Darwin wasp (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) species is poorly known. Existing museum specimens can potentially be used to get information on e.g. how species live, what they eat, and what their life cycle is. One example of this is a 1991 study by Eggleton in which he measured some rhyssine (Ichneumonidae: Rhyssinae) species, and used the results to deduce how the species likely mate. We extend this work by measuring five tropical species. We found no evidence that the males of our species scramble for females before the females emerge, which matches what was hypothesised by Eggleton. Further measurements of more species would provide information on how other species mate, and field observations of mating rhyssines would help confirm that Eggleton’s method for deducing rhyssine mating strategies gives true results.