| Cephus cinctus | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Cephidae |
| Genus: | Cephus |
| Species: | C. cinctus |
| Binomial name | |
| Cephus cinctus Norton, 1872 | |
Cephus cinctus, also known as wheat stem sawfly, [1] is a slow flying, yellow and black coloured, destructive pest found mainly in western North America. [2] [3]
Wheat stem sawflies grow to a length of 7 to 12 mm, with males being smaller than females. [2] The body is black with yellow bands on the abdomen, the wings are smoke-coloured and the legs are yellow. [3]
After mating, female wasps lay eggs in plant stems, usually before the grass head has emerged. [2] Unfertilised eggs hatch into male larvae while fertilised eggs hatch into females. [2] [3] Larvae feed on the parenchyma of the stem. [2] When a larva matures, it moves to the bottom of the stem and cuts a notch or groove around the inner circumference of the stem. [2] [3] In autumn, the larva plugs the exposed end of the stem and builds a cocoon in which it overwinters. [3] In the following spring, it moves to the pupal stage. [3] Adults emerge from stems to mate and begin the cycle again. [2] [3]
The species has a wide host range that includes all large-stemmed grasses except oats (Avena sativa). [3] Specifically, it feeds on wheat (Triticum aestivum), durum (T. durum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), rye ( Secale cereale ), wheatgrass ( Agropyron spp.), timothy ( Phleum spp.), Elymus spp. and cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum ). [2] [3]
Cephus cinctus reduces yields by reducing head weight, grain quality and protein content, shrivelling seeds, and causing lodging of stems (which reduces harvest efficiency). [3]
Because most of the life cycle occurs inside plants, insecticides are ineffective against this species. [4]
It is known as a chronic pest in Northern Great Plains of the United States and also an important pest of wheat in the Canadian Prairies. [5] The species is distributed widely in various regions of the US and Canada. [3] However, the species is believed to originate from northeastern Asia. [6]
The genome of this species has been studied. 86% of its proteins have identifiable orthologs in other insects. It has several gene lineages not present in the more advanced Apocrita (wasps, bees and ants), such as genes for carbon dioxide receptors. It also has some expansions of chemoreceptor genes, which may be adaptations to new grasses such as wheat. [7]
The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family commonly are called tachinid flies or simply tachinids. As far as is known, they all are protelean parasitoids, or occasionally parasites, of arthropods, usually other insects. The family is known from many habitats in all zoogeographical regions and is especially diverse in South America.
Sawflies are wasp-like insects that are in the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay their eggs. The name is associated especially with the Tenthredinoidea, by far the largest superfamily in the suborder, with about 7,000 known species; in the entire suborder, there are 8,000 described species in more than 800 genera. Symphyta is paraphyletic, consisting of several basal groups within the order Hymenoptera, each one rooted inside the previous group, ending with the Apocrita which are not sawflies.
The superfamily Ichneumonoidea contains one extinct and three extant families, including the two largest families within Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae and Braconidae. The group is thought to contain as many as 100,000 species, many of which have not yet been described. Like other parasitoid wasps, they were long placed in the "Parasitica", variously considered as an infraorder or an unranked clade, now known to be paraphyletic.
Horntail or wood wasp are any of the 150 non-social species of the hymenopteran family Siricidae, a type of wood-eating sawfly. The common name "horntail" derives from the stout, spine-like structure at the end of the adult's abdomen, which is used to pierce the host's bark to allow the eggs to be inserted into the wood. A typical adult horntail is brown, blue, or black with yellow or red parts, and may often reach up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The pigeon horntail can grow up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, among the longest of all Hymenoptera.
The cereal leaf beetle is a significant crop pest, described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
Potter wasps, the Eumeninae, are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae.
Cephoidea is a small superfamily within the Symphyta, commonly referred to as stem sawflies, containing some 100 species in 10 genera in the living family, Cephidae, plus another 17 genera in the extinct family Sepulcidae. They first appeared around 212 million years ago in the Norian Age, and are diurnal. Most species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Eurasia. The larvae are stem borers in various plants, especially grasses, but sometimes other herbaceous plants, shrubs, or trees. A few are pests of cereal grains. They are exceptionally slender for symphytans, often resembling other types of wasps, and they are the only Symphyta which lack cenchri. They are sometimes postulated to be the sister taxon to the Apocrita, though the Orussidae are more commonly considered such.
Tenthredinidae is the largest family of sawflies, with well over 7,500 species worldwide, divided into 430 genera. Larvae are herbivores and typically feed on the foliage of trees and shrubs, with occasional exceptions that are leaf miners, stem borers, or gall makers. The larvae of externally feeding species resemble small caterpillars. As with all hymenopterans, common sawflies undergo complete metamorphosis.
Trigonalidae is a family of parasitic wasps in the suborder Apocrita. They are the only living members of the superfamily Trigonaloidea. Trigonalidae are divided into 2 subfamilies; Orthogonalinae and Trigonalinae. These wasps are extremely rare, but surprisingly diverse, with over 90 species in 16 genera, and are known from all parts of the world. It is possibly the sister group to all Aculeata.
Megarhyssa, also known as giant ichneumonid wasps, giant ichneumons, or stump stabbers, is a genus of large ichneumon wasps, with some species known for having the longest ovipositors of any insects. They are idiobiont endoparasitoids of the larvae of wood-boring horntail wasps. The ovipositor can be mistaken for a large stinger. This is a genus of holometabolous insects within subfamily Rhyssinae that includes 37 species and belongs to Ichneumonidae, the family of wasps with the highest biodiversity in the world.
Allantinae is a subfamily of sawflies in the family Tenthredinidae, and the largest subfamily of that family, with about 110 genera. The subfamily is considered to consist of five to six tribes, and are medium to large sawflies.
Megarhyssa greenei, also known as Greene's giant ichneumonid wasp, is a species of large ichneumon wasp. It is known from the United States and Canada.
Evania appendigaster, also known as the blue-eyed ensign wasp, is a species of wasp in the family Evaniidae. Its native range is not known, but it likely originated in Asia. Today it occurs throughout the tropics and subtropics and in many temperate regions. As with the rest of its family, the blue-eyed ensign wasp is a parasitoid known for specializing on cockroach eggs.
Macrosteles quadrilineatus, the aster leafhopper or six-spotted leafhopper, is a leafhopper species in the genus Macrosteles, found in the United States. It is the vector of aster yellows disease, which affects various vegetable plants, weeds and ornamental plants.
Cephidae is a family of stem sawflies in the order Hymenoptera. There are about 27 genera and more than 160 described species in Cephidae.
Listronotus bonariensis is a species of weevil that is native to South America and is commonly known as the Argentine stem weevil. It is a pest of grasses and cereals, with the larvae being more destructive than the adult insects. It has spread to Australia and New Zealand, where it is regarded as a pest species.
Hoplocampa testudinea, the apple sawfly or European apple sawfly, is a species of sawfly in the family Tenthredinidae. It is native to Europe but has been accidentally introduced into North America where it became invasive. The larvae feed inside the developing fruits of the apple tree.
Trichogramma japonicum is a minute wasp parasitoid from the Trichogrammatidae family in the order Hymenoptera. T. japonicum parasitizes the eggs of many pest species, especially Lepidoptera found in many monocultures. They are entomophagous parasitoids that deposit their eggs inside the host species' egg, consuming the host egg material and emerging from the egg once development is complete. T. japonicum can be found naturally in rice ecosystems, but are dispersed commercially to many monocultures as a biological control. The mitochondrial genomes of T. japonicum are significantly rearranged when comparing it to related insects.
Lathrolestes luteolator is a species of wasp in the family Ichneumonidae. It is native to North America and is a parasitoid of various species of sawfly larvae. In the 1990s, it started to parasitise the larvae of the invasive amber-marked birch leaf miner in Alberta. When this pest spread to Alaska, the wasp was used in biological pest control.
George Salt was an English entomologist and ecologist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1956.
| Authority control databases: National |
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