| Stigmus americanus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Pemphredonidae |
| Genus: | Stigmus |
| Species: | S. americanus |
| Binomial name | |
| Stigmus americanus Packard, 1867 | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Stigmus americanus is a species of aphid wasp in the family Pemphredonidae. [1] [2] It is found in North America. [1]
Stigmus americanus nest in twigs of certain trees and shrubs, including Erythrina, Paeonia, Sambucus, Chionanthus, Syringa, Prunus, Polyphorus, and Sassafras. They frequently utilize pre-existing cavities, but also excavate their own nests.
A Stigmus americanus wasp provisions its nest with paralyzed aphids, and places its eggs on the thoracic ventor and abdomen of the aphids in its nest. When an egg hatches, the larva feeds on the paralyzed aphid and eventually emerges from the aphid shell as an adult wasp.
The cuckoo wasps Omalus iridescens and O. purpuratus parasitize Stigmus americanus (along some other aphid wasps) by laying eggs in live aphids at a hunting site of Stigmus americanus, which then paralyzes the aphids and moves them to its nest along with the embedded eggs. [3] [4]
The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typically its form is adapted to functions such as preparing a place for the egg, transmitting the egg, and then placing it properly. For most insects, the organ is used merely to attach the egg to some surface, but for many parasitic species, it is a piercing organ as well.
Paper wasps are a type of vespid wasps. The term is typically used to refer to members of the vespid subfamily Polistinae, though it often colloquially includes members of the subfamilies Vespinae and Stenogastrinae, which also make nests out of paper.
Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. It includes wasps, bees, and ants, and consists of many families. It contains the most advanced hymenopterans and is distinguished from Symphyta by the narrow "waist" (petiole) formed between the first two segments of the actual abdomen; the first abdominal segment is fused to the thorax, and is called the propodeum. Therefore, it is general practice, when discussing the body of an apocritan in a technical sense, to refer to the mesosoma and metasoma rather than the "thorax" and "abdomen", respectively. The evolution of a constricted waist was an important adaption for the parasitoid lifestyle of the ancestral apocritan, allowing more maneuverability of the female's ovipositor. The ovipositor either extends freely or is retracted, and may be developed into a stinger for both defense and paralyzing prey. Larvae are legless and blind, and either feed inside a host or in a nest cell provisioned by their mothers.
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
Brood parasitism is a subclass of parasitism and phenomenon and behavioural pattern of animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The strategy involves a form of aggressive mimicry called Kirbyan mimicry.
An obligate parasite or holoparasite is a parasitic organism that cannot complete its life-cycle without exploiting a suitable host. If an obligate parasite cannot obtain a host it will fail to reproduce. This is opposed to a facultative parasite, which can act as a parasite but does not rely on its host to continue its life-cycle. Obligate parasites have evolved a variety of parasitic strategies to exploit their hosts. Holoparasites and some hemiparasites are obligate.
Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.
With over 850 species, the genus Nomada is one of the largest genera in the family Apidae, and the largest genus of cuckoo bees. Cuckoo bees are so named because they enter the nests of a host and lay eggs there, stealing resources that the host has already collected. The name "Nomada" is derived from the Greek word nomas, meaning "roaming" or "wandering."
Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors created by structural coloration. They are most diverse in desert regions of the world, as they are typically associated with solitary bee and wasp species, which are also most diverse in such areas. Their brood parasitic lifestyle has led to the evolution of fascinating adaptations, including chemical mimicry of host odors by some species.
The subfamily Chrysidinae contains those species that are most commonly recognized as cuckoo wasps, being by far the largest and most familiar subfamily. The group contains 3000 species with 48 genera worldwide. They are highly sculptured, with brilliantly metallic-colored bodies, covering the entire spectrum, but primarily blues and greens.
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.
Pemphredonidae is a family of aphid wasps formerly treated as the subfamily Pemphredoninae. There are 19 genera and 556 described species in the family.
Polistes semenowi is a species of paper wasp in the genus Polistes that is found in southeastern and southern central Europe, as well as central Asia, and was until 2017 erroneously known by the name Polistes sulcifer, while a different species was incorrectly believed to represent P. semenowi. It is one of only four known Polistes obligate social parasites, sometimes referred to as "cuckoo paper wasps", and its host is the congeneric species Polistes dominula. As an obligate social parasite, this species has lost the ability to build nests, and relies on the host workers to raise its brood. P. semenowi females use brute force, followed by chemical mimicry in order to successfully usurp a host nest and take over as the queen.
Chrysis ignita is a species of cuckoo wasp. It is one of a group of species which are difficult to separate and which may be referred to as ruby-tailed wasps.
Pemphredon is a genus of digger wasps in the family Pemphredonidae. The genus is common in the Holarctic, with 12 species represented in Europe. Several species are considered beneficial because of their specialization in aphids.
Odynerus spinipes, the spiny mason wasp, is a species of potter wasp from western Europe. It is the type species of the genus Odynerus, being first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Stigmus is a genus of aphid wasps in the family Pemphredonidae. There are more than 20 described species in Stigmus.
Vespula infernalis is an obligate parasitic wasp, parasitizing the nests of other species in the genus Vespula. Its common host species is V. acadica in North America. It is sometimes called the cuckoo yellowjacket wasp due to its inquiline lifestyle. They differ from other parasitic wasps in their intensely aggressive behaviour during invasion and occupation of the host colony. Several morphological adaptations such as bigger body parts and highly curved stingers are present in these wasps to aid their aggressive parasitic behaviour.
Omalus aeneus is a species of cuckoo wasps belonging to the family Chrysididae.
Omalus biaccinctus is a species of cuckoo wasps belonging to the family Chrysididae.
 | This Apoidea-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |