#eulophidae

As the year comes to a close I wish to inundate you all with some of the coolest, prettiest or strangest wasp photos uploaded to iNat this year, inspired by @cathartidae's wauce blasts

Gonatopus and liopterid

Gasteruption and Cameronella

Eumenine and Smicromorpha doddi

Ammophila wrightii and Stilbula

Pelecinus polyturator and Chrysis viridula

Tracheliodes curvitarsis and Oxyscelio

Orasema and Apoica pallens

Scelionids and Feron kingi

Neotriadomerus and Phlebopenes

Euplectromorpha variegata and chalcids

Antron douglasii and Stylaclista

Synergus and Obenbergerella

Elasmosoma and Polistes dominula

Odontophotopsis melicausa and Stizus texanus

Stypiura and Radumeris tasmaniensis

Parasitoid chalcidoid wasp, Astichus longevittatus, Eulophidae

here's a little eulophid wasp (Euplectrus sp.) being annoying to a sawfly larva, possibly Periclista sp. she would repeatedly approach the sawfly and sniff around as parasitoids often do, and the sawfly would in turn swat her away with some twitching and thrashing, which might sound ineffective but is apparently very scary to wasps

despite her best efforts, i never saw her oviposit, but it looks like it might have happened at some point - unlike a lot of other chalcids, eulophids are external parasitoids, and the sawfly appears to have some tiny eggs on it already. either she had an easier time with the first few, or another wasp beat her to it

[PHOTOS TAKEN: APRIL 27TH, 2025 | Image IDs: Two photos of the black pupae of over 30 Eulophus genus wasps hanging from the underside of a green tree leaf /End IDs.]

Investigating galls on a Eucalypt.

The Eulophidae include 4,300 described species in about 300 genera, but are difficult to study unless immeadiately preserved in alcohol. A very few species feed on plants, but most are parasitoids on a huge range of other arthropods, including aquatic beetles.

Euderus set, or the "crypt keeper wasp" is a small Eulophid parasitoid of the gall wasp Bassettia pallida.

The female Euderus set will search for the galls or "crypts" induced by the gall wasp Bassettia pallida, but possibly also Andricus quercuspetiolicola and others. The female E. set will then oviposit in the chamber of the gall. When the E. set larva hatches, it will burrow into the host wasp. It then manipulates the host to speed up its development, metamorphoses into an adult, and chews its way up to the surface months earlier than normal. When the host wasp does this, the burrow isn't wide enough for it to emerge from the stem, and its head becomes stuck. The parasitoid then consumes the host and chews through the host's head to emerge as an adult. The larva of E. set overwinters in the gall, eating the host, and emerges the following spring. The mechanism used to manipulate the host is unknown.

This female apparently got overly enthusiastic and took things one step further by wearing her host's head as a costume. Happy Halloween!