''Bracon'' is a genus of

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

s in the

Braconidae The Braconidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. After the closely related Ichneumonidae, braconids make up the second-largest family in the order Hymenoptera, with about 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. One analysis ...

, a family of

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

wasps. There are several hundred described species but there are thousands still undescribed.Ameri, A., et al. (2013)
Study of the genus ''Bracon'' Fabricius, 1804 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of Southern Iran with description of a new species.
''Zootaxa'' 3754(4), 353-80. The genus is

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

, distributed throughout the world, with most of the described species occurring in the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

. These wasps are mostly ectoparasitoids, with the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e developing on the outside of the body of the host. Recorded hosts include the larvae of many species of

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

ns,

beetles Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

ns, and

true bugs Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from to aroun ...

. They are idiobionts, halting the development of the host when they lay eggs on its body. Some ''Bracon'' wasps are specific to one host species, and some are known to utilize many different hosts.Žikić, V., et al. (2012)
Checklist of the genus ''Bracon'' (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Serbia.
''Biologica Nyssana'' 3(1), 21-29. The eggs of the wasp can be very hardy. In one report, ''Bracon'' wasps oviposited on

tortrix moth The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genus ...

larvae, which then entered

privet A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs, sometimes forming small or medium-sized trees, native species, native to Europe, north Africa, Asia, many in ...

seeds and were consumed by birds along with the fruit. The wasp eggs were later excreted and the larvae emerged. This large genus has been divided into several subgenera, some of which are further divided into species-groups.Papp, J. (2000)
First synopsis of the species of ''obscurator'' species-group, genus ''Bracon'', subgenus ''Glabrobracon'' (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Braconinae).
''In'': Merkl, O. (Ed.). ''Annales historico-naturales Musei nationalis hungarici'' 92 229-64. Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. A DNA analysis showed that the genus is

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

, that its subgenera and other defined groups are not all valid on a molecular basis, and that revising it into informal groups would be more practical. Other authors still divide the genus into subgenera using morphological characters to make identification easier.Papp, J. (2012)
A revision of the ''Bracon'' Fabricius species in Wesmael's collection deposited in Brussels (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).
''European Journal of Taxonomy'' 0(21). Most of the thousands of species that fit into this genus have not yet been described, but even the number of named species is unclear, with estimates ranging from 500 to 1000. Species include: Bracon hebetor

*'' Bracon acrobasidis'' *'' Bracon agathymi'' *'' Bracon americanus'' *'' Bracon analcidis'' *'' Bracon angelesius'' *'' Bracon apicatus'' *'' Bracon argutator'' *'' Bracon bembeciae'' *'' Bracon brachyurus'' *'' Bracon brevicornis'' *'' Bracon canadensis'' *'' Bracon caulicola'' *'' Bracon cephi'' *'' Bracon cinctus'' *'' Bracon connecticutorum'' *'' Bracon cuscutae'' *'' Bracon cushmani'' *'' Bracon erucarum'' *'' Bracon furtivus'' *'' Bracon gastroideae'' *'' Bracon gelechiae'' *'' Bracon gemmaecola'' *'' Bracon geraei'' *'' Bracon gossypii'' *'' Bracon gracilis'' *''

Bracon hebetor ''Habrobracon hebetor'' is a minute wasp of the family Braconidae that is an ectoparasitoid of several species of moth caterpillars. Well known hosts include the larval stage of ''Plodia interpunctella'', the Indianmeal moth, the late larval stage ...

'' *'' Bracon helianthi'' *'' Bracon hemimenae'' *'' Bracon hobomok'' *'' Bracon hyslopi'' *'' Bracon jani'' *'' Bracon kirkpatricki'' *'' Bracon konkapoti'' *'' Bracon laemosacci'' *'' Bracon lineatellae'' *'' Bracon lissogaster'' *'' Bracon lutus'' *'' Bracon mellitor'' *'' Bracon metacomet'' *'' Bracon minutator'' *'' Bracon montowesi'' *'' Bracon nanus'' *'' Bracon nevadensis'' *'' Bracon niger'' *'' Bracon nuperus'' *'' Bracon oenotherae'' *'' Bracon palliventris'' *'' Bracon papaipemae'' *'' Bracon pascuensis'' *'' Bracon piceiceps'' *'' Bracon piger'' *'' Bracon pini'' *'' Bracon podunkorum'' *'' Bracon predatorius'' Ranjith & Quicke, 2022 *'' Bracon quinnipiacorum'' *'' Bracon radicis'' *'' Bracon rhyssomati'' *'' Bracon rosaceani'' *'' Bracon rufomarginatus'' *'' Bracon sanninoideae'' *'' Bracon scanticorum'' *'' Bracon sesiae'' *'' Bracon sphenophori'' *'' Bracon sulcifrons'' *'' Bracon tachypteri'' *'' Bracon tenuiceps'' *'' Bracon tenuis'' *'' Bracon terebella'' *'' Bracon tychii'' *'' Bracon uncas'' *'' Bracon variabilis'' *'' Bracon vulgaris'' *'' Bracon wawequa'' *'' Bracon xanthonotus''

References

External links

*Ward, D. F. 2014
''Bracon'': Images and Factsheets.
''In'': ''Braconidae of New Zealand''. Landcare Research. {{Taxonbar, from=Q15690553 Braconidae genera Braconinae