LIFE HISTORY DATA

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