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LIFE HISTORY DATA |
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Diagnostic features of adult wasp |
Body length 4.4 mm; antenna with 31 flagellomeres; head color mostly black, with light orangish brown below eye; malar space 1.25 x basal width of mandible, ocelli small, ocell-ocular distance 1.3 x width of lateral ocellus; occipital carina broken at vertex; mesopleuron granulate; apex of hind tibia with setae normal, not flattened; propodeum mostly granulate, with median propodeal carina present but incomplete; tarsal claw simple; metasomal tergum 3 black basally, apically with irregular off-white spots forming half-heart shape; metasomal tergum 3 granulate-costate, median carina absent; ovipositor relatively long, about 2.0 x length of hind basitarsus. |
Biology and rearing records |
Aleiodes albiterminus has been reared from the mummified caterpillar of an unidentified Geometridae found on Alnus acuminata (Betulaceae). It is a solitary koinobiont endoparasitoid. |
Distribution |
This species is known only from the holotype specimen, which was collected at Rio Chalpi Grande, Napo Province, Ecuador, at 2837 meters elevation. |
Similar species |
Aleiodes albiterminus is similar to Aleiodes atripileatus (Townsend), which also has small ocelli, malar space at least 1.25 x basal width of the mandible, and gena (below the eye) with light orange-brown color. However, A. albiterminus can be distinguished by its lacking a median carina on the first to third metasomal terga, its longer ovipositor, and the distinctive off-white markings at the apex of metasomal tergum 3. Characteristics separating A. albiterminus from other species are given by Townsend and Shaw (2009). |
Comments |
The species name "albiterminus" means "white end" in Latin, referring to the distinctive off-white markings at the apex of metasomal tergum 3 in this species. |
Reference |
Townsend, A. and S.R. Shaw. 2009. Nine new species of Aleiodes reared from caterpillars in the northeastern Andes of Ecuador (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae). Journal of Insect Science 9, Article 33, pages 1-21. Available online: insectscience.org/9.33 |