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Animalia >Arthropoda >Insecta >Hymenoptera >Aphelinidae >Aphelinus >

The best known examples of wasps that parasitize aphids are those of the family Braconidae. For some aphid species, Aphelinus spp. (Aphelinidae) are also natural enemies. They parasitize aphids at even high rates during certain times of the year. Aphelinus mali was introduced from the United States in 1930s and has been known as a wasp that parasitizes aphids on apple trees. As this species is small and moves so quickly, its oviposition behavior has rarely been observed. When this wasp encounters a host, it touches the host with its antennae. It then turns around and approaches the host while pointing its tail end toward the host. It then folds the tip of forewings upward and extends the ovipositor, which was housed in the abdomen, together with the abdominal plate. The ovipositor is as long as half the body length and the wasp seldom fails to sting the host. The wasp may miss the target from time to time but it soon repeats the oviposition attempt. The mechanism in which the forewings tips are folded in 180 degrees and the speed in which the ovipositor is inserted into an aphid body never fail to fascinate us.

(Data No.momo050102am01b)

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