Ibaliidae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ibaliidae | |
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| Ibalia leucospoides | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Suborder: | Apocrita |
| Infraorder: | Proctotrupomorpha |
| Superfamily: | Cynipoidea |
| Family: | Ibaliidae Thomson, 1862 |
| Genera | |
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The Ibaliidae are a small family of the hymenopteran superfamily Cynipoidea. Ibaliidae differ from most of the cynipoids by the larvae being parasitoids on other wasp larvae in the group Siricidae. The Ibaliidae comprise three extant genera of fairly large wasps, with a total of 20 species, and is a sister group to the rest of the cynipoids except the small subfamily Austrocynipidae.
Body
Their large size is a typical and obvious characteristic in the family, with lengths up to 30 mm (1.2 in). The following distinct features are diagnostic characters, based on research by Ronquist[1] and Liu and Nordlander.[2]
The genae are swollen and pronounced. The female antenna consists of 11 segments, while the male antenna consists of 13 segments. A large portion of the pronotum is well developed, called the dorsal pronotal area, with scutellar processes. The marginal cell of the forewing is elongated and thin. The gaster is long and pronouncedly compressed laterally. The seventh tergum is large in females. An apical tubular process is present on the second tarsomere of the hind leg. The metafemur is short, no longer than the metacoxa.
| Mesosoma | Forewing | Hind tarsus | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Reproduction and parasitism
The female lays the egg by oviposition through the oviposition shafts created by Siricidae, and the egg is deposited inside a siricid larva.[3] In the species Ibalia drewseni Borries, Ibalia leucospoides (Hochenwarth) and Ibalia japonica Matsumura, host detection by symbiotic fungus in the siricid has been observed.[4][5][6]
The larva lives it in its first instars as an endoparasite, and later exits the host and lives on the remaining host tissues. The primary instar is polypodeiform with paired appendages on segments 1–12, and in the second to fourth instars, the appendages are lost. Until the terminal instar, the remaining cauda is gradually decreased.[4]
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The two subgenera of Ibalia differ in host choice, the subgenus Ibalia parasitizes coniferous-living Siricinae larvae and the subgenus Tremibalia parasitizes hardwood-living Tremicinae larvae. Few details are known about the genera Heteribalia and Eileenella, but both also parasitize wood-boring Siricidae.[3]
