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Animalia >Arthropoda >Insecta >Hymenoptera >Ichneumonidae >Apsilops >

The life history and host-searching behaviour of Apsilops japonicus parasitizing the aquatic moth Neoshoenobia testacealis were studied in the field and in the laboratory in Japan. Moth larvae initially mine the floating leaves of the yellow water lily, later boring into the petiole and pupating in the petiole underwater. While the wasps did not attack leaf-mining larvae, they were idiobiont ectoparasitoids of the pupae or mature larvae of N. testacealis in the petioles. The wasps did not swim with their wings or legs when searching for hosts underwater, they walked down leaf petioles into the water. It is presumed that the wasps overwinter as adults. The laboratory observations suggested that the female wasps could not detect the host presence in the petiole from the floating leaves and they randomly searched for hosts by probing with their ovipositors underwater.

(Data No.momo140203aj01b)

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