Taxonomic Position, General features, Identification marks, Biology of Braconids, Chalcidids & Bethylids

1. welcome
Prajwal Gowda MA
RAM/2020-50
Msc Entomology

2. PRESENTATION ON:
Braconidae, Chalcididae &
Bethylidae.

3. SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION OF
Braconidae
Kingdom:
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class:
Order:
Superfamily:
Family: Braconidae

4. Braconidae:
• Second largest family in the order Hymenoptera.
• DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS: black-brown
sometimes with reddish markings.
• Abdomen as long as the head and thorax combined.
• Presence of 1 or no recurrent vein.
• Cross vein 2m-Cu is absent.
• Forewing has first sector of Rs+M.
• There’s no articulation between 2nd &
3rd gastral segments.
Antennae have 16 segments or more;
hind trochanter have 2 segments.

5. • Costal cell is absent.
• Adults not as bright as ichneumonids.

6. Classification of Braconids.
• Divided into two major groups, called the cyclostomes and
noncyclostomes. In cyclostome, the labrum and the lower
part of the clypeus are concave with respect to the
mandibles.
Head of a cyclostome braconid showing
circular opening above mandibles.
Head of a noncyclostome braconid.

7. BIOLOGY
• Parasitic on lepidoptera, coleoptera, diptera &
homoptera.
• Mostly endoparasitic but some are ectoparasitic also.
• These are gregarious parasitoids except Apanteles
angaleti which is a solitary.
• Usually parasitic on larval stage & pupation occurs
externally.
• Pupa enclosed in a cocoon. Life cycle completes in
10-14 days.
Ex: Apanteles angaleti and Bracon kirikpatricki - larval
parasitoid on PBW,
Chelonus blackburnii - egglarval parasitoid on PTM,
Cotesia flavipes on SSB,

8. Habit and Habitat
• All species of braconids are parasitic on other
insects.
• Larve can be found on hosts such as aphids, bark
beetles & caterpillars.
• Parasitism on adult insects (particularly on
hemiptera & coleoptera is also observed.
• Members of 2 subfamilies (Mesostoinae &
Doryctinae) are known to form galls on plants.
• Pupation occurs entirely apart from the host.
• Polyembryony seen in few sps, mainly in the
genus Macrocentrus (parasitoid of European corn
borer where a egg develops into 16 to 24 larve.

9. General Identification characters of Braconids
Braconids ovipositing
in a caterpillar.
Apanteles sp. cocoons
on papilio demoleus.
Braconid wasp
empty cocoons.

10. Life cycle of Cotesia glomerata
LP: 10-15 Days
16-52 Eggs.
PP: 7-10 Days
Total life span: 22-30 days
IP: 3-5 Days

11. Chalcididae
• Chalcid from Greek khalkos -'copper', for their metallic colour.
Morphology: They are often black with yellow, red, or white
markings, rarely brilliantly metallic, with a robust mesosoma and
very strong sculpturing.
Maindiagnosticcharacters
1. Hind leg with femur characteristically swollen with one or more
teeth on its inner margin and with tibia markedly curved.
2. Prepectus very narrow, not clearly visible, abdomen humped.
3. Forewings not folded longitudinally, tegula oval, nearly as long
as broad, mandibles stout with 3-4 teeth.
4. Wing venation reduced to a single anterior compound vein,
ovipositor is short and straight.
5. The sexual dimorphism is minimal except in Haltichellinae,
where the flagellum of the male is thicker and the scape
possibly modified.

12. SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION OF
Chalcididae
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Superfamily:
Family:

13. Tegula definition is a pair of small scalelike sclerites of
the mesothorax.
Prepectus: The portion of a pleuron posterior to the
pleural groove.

14. Habit & Habitat
• Chalcidids members are less common in cool
climates.
• They’re predominantly a solitary, primary
endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera and Diptera.
• Exclusively pupal parasitoids but some species are
hyperparasitic(Conura).
• One of the remarkable use of the muscular hind legs
is the Lasiochalcidia sps, which attacks the predatory
larvae of ant lions. Parasitic on two orders
of Arachnida, and even one family of nematodes.
• A small percentage are phytophagous and the larvae
feed inside seeds, stems, and galls, including some
that act as pollinators. (e.g. fig wasps)

15. Host & Biology
• Chalcididae are pupal (idiobionts) or larva-pupal
(koinobionts) parasitoids of holometabolans. Most
species are endoparasitoids, but Dirhininae are
ectoparasitoids on Dipterans. The hosts are
Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Neuroptera and
even Strepsiptera are also noticed.
• Some species are primary parasitoids and sometimes
facultative hyperparasitoids while a few other
chalcidids are obligatory secondary parasitoids. This
is for example the case of the Brachymeria species
of minuta sps group, which parasitize
tachinid/sarcophagid flies, themselves primary
parasitoids of Orthoptera.
• Females lays eggs inside the pupae of

16. Chalcididae wing venation showing
single anterior compound vein.

17. Pupa of Historis odius after emergence of the Brachymeria
pandora

18. SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION OF
BETHYLIDAE
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Superfamily:
Family:

19. Bethylidae
Morphology: Bethylids are small to medium-sized, dark-
colored wasps; the females of many species are
apterous and antlike in appearance. In some there are
both winged and wingless forms.
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS
1. Antennae with 11-I3 segments, inserted below down
on face. Sexual dimorphism slight.
2. Gaster with 7-8 exposed segments. Head
prognathous.
3. Pronotum usually parallel-sided. Anal lobe of hind
wing conspicuous.
4. Wings with atleast 2 closed cells, curved stigma
vein.

20. Male Bethylid Curved Stigmal vein & closed cells

21. Habit & Habitat
• Parasitic on larva-pupal stage of lepidoptera &
coleoptera.
• Gregarious ectoparasitoid usually.
• Shows maternal care for eggs and larve.
• The males of the brood usually emerge a little in
advance of females. They have the habit of then
tearing open the female cocoons and, often, of
entering them in order to mate with the newly
transformed females.
• Females spend their entire lives in the burrow, cell
or cocoon of the host.
• They will at times eat their own eggs, but not their
larvae.

22. Biology of Goniozus nephantidis
• A female mated with 3 to 6 males while a male
mated with 7 to 12 females. The female wasp first
paralyzed the host by stinging it on the dorsa-
lateral side.
• On a single host larva usually 3 - 5 eggs were laid
on the upper surface of the body. A female laid
about 20 eggs during its life span.
• The parasitoid larvae were yellowish, oval in
shape and fed externally on the host body. The
fully fed larva spins a reddish brown cocoon.
• The life cycle of the parasitoid is completed in 10-
14 days (incubation 24-36 hrs, larval feeding 2
days, prepupal stage 48-60 hrs and cocoon period
48 to 56 hrs + resting adult inside the cocoon 108-
128 hrs).

23. G. nephantidis parasitizing CBHC larvae.

24. THANK YOU