Giant Spot Chelated Wasp (File Image)
A. Adult leafhopper parasitic by cet bees B. Ladybird nymph parasitic by cetaceans The arrows show the larvae of the cetacea (courtesy of Chen Huayan)
The parasitic wasp is a very rare type of parasitic wasps, and only more than 50 species are known in the world, and less than 10 species are known in China. This type of parasitic wasp is actually a repararasitic wasp, and its host is also a larvae of the family Cetaceae that parasitizes hemiptera insects such as leafhoppers, waxhoppers, and horned cicadas.
The latest research results of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University and South China Agricultural University found that this new species of parasitic wasp is produced in the South China Botanical Garden and Yunkaishan, which belongs to warm and low-altitude areas, indicating that the habitat range that the host wasps can adapt to is much larger than the original generally believed.
The researchers also found that the new species of parasitic wasps are heavy parasitic wasps of the family Cetaceae, and the cray bees of the family Crayfish are natural enemies of leafhoppers, an important pest of agriculture and forestry. On the one hand, the study of this bee is of great significance for species diversity, and on the other hand, it can also be used in the biological control of leafhoppers - the presence of parasitic wasps means that the species and populations of crayfish in the South China Botanical Garden where they are found are relatively large and have a certain role in natural control of pests. Therefore, the hermit wasp can be used as an environmental indicator species to assess ecosystem health.
Researcher Luo Shixiao has found more than ten species of cetaceans in the South China Botanical Garden, and individual cetacean species have a high parasitic rate of leafhoppers and play a role in the natural control of leafhopper pests (the results of the study are yet to be published).
(Source: South China Botanical Garden, Zhou Fei, Luo Shixiao)
Source: South China Botanical Garden