Dusona

Dusona
Dusona leptogaster
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Ichneumonidae
Subfamily: Campopleginae
Tribe: Limneriini
Genus: Dusona
Cameron, 1901[1]

Dusona is a genus of parasitoid wasps belonging to the family Ichneumonidae.[2] It is the most species rich genus of the subfamily Campopleginae with 442 known species.[3]

The genus has cosmopolitan distribution.[2]

Description

Dusona is an easily recognized genus among other Campopleginae due to a number of clear diagnostic characteristics which include: elongated, oval or slit-shaped propodeal spiracles; a very strongly compressed metasoma; closed areolets and petiolar sutures that are often obliterated or positioned very low anteriorly. Additionally are many species able to reach unusually large body sizes, some exceeding 20 mm (see Dusona falcator). The thorax and head of most species are uniformly black, with the abdomen varying between black, red, brown, orange and yellow, with the fist tergit and the outer most tergites most usually black.[3]

Ecology

All species of Dusona are parasitoids, with the main hosts being the larvae of Lepidopterans. The host is usually killed as a prepupa, in a few cases as a pupa.[4] Only one species, Dusona minor, has been reported as a parasitoid of larva outside of Lepidoptera, parasitoidizing the sawfly Monoctenus juniperi.[5]

Species

References

  1. ^ Cameron, P. (1901). "On a collection of Hymenoptera made in the neighbourhood of Wellington by Mr. G. V. Hudson, with descriptions of new genera and species". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 33: 107.
  2. ^ a b "Dusona Cameron, 1901". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b Meier, Noah I.; Urfer, Karin; Haraldseide, Håkon; Vårdal, Hege; Klopfstein, Seraina (2022). "Open access in a taxonomic sense: a morphological and molecular guide to Western Palaearctic Dusona (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae)". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 91: 83–183. doi:10.3897/jhr.91.83318. S2CID 250205312.
  4. ^ Shaw, Mark R.; Horstmann, Klaus; Whiffin, Ashleigh L. (2016). "Two hundred and twenty-five species of reared western Palaearctic Campopleginae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in the National Museums of Scotland, with descriptions of new species of Campoplex and Diadegma, and records of fifty-five species new to Britain". Entomologist's Gazette. 67: 177-222.
  5. ^ Horstmann, K. (2011). "Verbreitung und Wirte der Dusona-Arten in der Westpaläarktis (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Campopleginae)" (PDF). Linzer biologische Beiträge. 43: 1295-1330.