Scientific name
Doddifoenus burksi Gupta, Sankararaman & Hemanth sp. n.
Taxonomic position
Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae: Leptofoeninae
Diagnosis
Image
Female - Holotype
Female - Paratype
Male - lateral view
Distribution
India (Karnataka).
Biology / Hosts
Members of Doddifoenus are presumed to be parasitoids of wood-boring insects (Krogmann and Burks 2009). The female wasps of D. burksi sp. n. were observed penetrating the ovipositor inside the bark of wood logs. The site of oviposition was marked and later the cerambycid larva was manually removed after scraping the bark. The adults of Clytocera sp. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), one of the most probable hosts of D. burksi sp. n. were noticed near the wood logs. The mating pair was observed where the female carries the male on its body. As in the case of D. wallacei, D. burksi sp. n. also possess morphological adaptations found in hymenopteran parasitoids of endoxylous hosts.
References
- Bouček, Z. (1988). Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). C.A.B. International, Wallingford, UK, 832 pp.
- Dodd, A.P. (1927). Notes on parasitic Hymenoptera from Australia, with descriptions of new species. Mem Queensl Mus 9:63–66.
- Gupta, A., Gowda, H.K.H.M. & Sankararaman, H. (2022). First report of the genus with first host record and description of an enchanting new species of Doddifoenus Bouček (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae: Leptofoeninae) from India. Biologia. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01133-4
- Krogmann, L., Burks, R.A. (2009). Doddifoenus wallacei, a new giant parasitoid wasp of the subfamily Leptofoeninae (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae), with a description of its mesosomal skeletal anatomy and a molecular characterization. Zootaxa, 2194: 21–36.
- LaSalle, J., Stage, G.I. (1985). The chalcidoid genus Leptofoenus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Systematic Entomology, 10:285–298.
Credits
Images and factsheet prepared by Dr. Ankita Gupta, Scientist, NBAIR. Web content added by Lavanya G, 29-06-2022.
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