Cheloninae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cheloninae | |
|---|---|
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| Imago of an unidentified Ascogaster species | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Braconidae |
| Subfamily: | Cheloninae Foerster, 1863 |
| Tribes | |
Cheloninae is a cosmopolitan subfamily of braconid parasitoid wasps.
Most Cheloninae are small and uniformly colored. They have a characteristic metasomal carapace formed from the fusion of the first three tergites.[citation needed]
Biology
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They are solitary koinobionts which parasitize Lepidoptera, especially Pyraloidea and Tortricoidea, but also other taxa whose larvae bore in stems, buds or fruits. Chelonines are egg-larval parasitoids, meaning they oviposit into a host egg, but the wasp larvae do not complete development until the caterpillar has hatched and matured. Chelonines carry polydnaviruses which aid in overcoming their hosts' immune system.[1]
