''Cotesia glomerata'', the white butterfly parasite, is a small parasitoid wasp species belonging to family

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 ...

. It was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in his 1758 publication

10th edition of Systema Naturae The 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' is a book written by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus and published in two volumes in 1758 and 1759, which marks the starting point of zoological nomenclature. In it, Linnaeus introduced binomial nomencl ...

Description

Braconidae - Cotesia glomerata - Cocoons

The adults of ''Cotesia glomerata'' can reach a length of . This small braconid wasp is black, with two pairs of wings. It can parasitize a wide range of ''Pieris'' butterfly species as host, but the large white (''

Pieris brassicae ''Pieris brassicae'', the large white, also called cabbage butterfly, cabbage white, cabbage moth (erroneously), or in India the large cabbage white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is a close relative of the small white, ''Pieris ra ...

'') and small white (''

Pieris rapae ''Pieris rapae'' is a small- to medium-sized butterfly species of the whites-and-yellows family Pieridae. It is known in Europe as the small white, in North America as the cabbage white or cabbage butterfly, on several continents as the small ca ...

'') are the main hosts. The adults feed on nectar.

Life cycle

After hatching from the pupae, females mate almost immediately and begin laying eggs.Cornell University College of Agricultural and Life Science
Cotesia (=Apanteles) glomerata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)
The eggs are laid in the larvae of butterflies known as caterpillars, where the ''C. glomerata'' larvae develop; multiple eggs numbering between 16–52 are deposited in each caterpillar. After 15 to 20 days the larvae emerge, killing the parasitised caterpillar. These newly emerged larvae spin cocoons in a cluster on or nearby the host caterpillar; after 7 to 10 days the

imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the f ...

adult wasps hatch from these cocoons. Males typically emerge before females and disperse from the area. Overall, it takes between 22 and 30 days for an egg to develop to full adulthood. ''Cotesia glomerata'' is in turn parasitized by the

hyperparasite A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two othe ...

wasps ''

Lysibia nana ''Lysibia nana'' is a hyperparasitoid wasp that attacks the parasitoid wasp ''Cotesia glomerata''. ''L. nana'' reproduces sexually and only infects hosts in the family Braconidae. Adult females of this species do not feed from their host, but ra ...

'' and ''

Gelis agilis ''Gelis agilis'' is a tiny wingless hyperparasitoid wasp that attacks the parasitoid wasp ''Cotesia glomerata'' and other parasitoids, like ''Dinocampus coccinellae''. References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2751372 Ichneumonidae Hyperparasites ...

''.

Distribution

This species is present in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, in the

Afrotropical realm The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

, the

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is a biogeographic realm that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua New Guinea and ...

, the

Nearctic realm The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

, and the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

References

External links

*
An 9 minute video of the wasps behaviour

Microgastrinae Hymenoptera of Africa Hymenoptera of Europe Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of Oceania Hymenoptera of South America Cosmopolitan arthropods Wasps described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Ichneumonoidea-stub

Description

Life cycle

Distribution

References

Further reading

External links