Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon “Parasitica” – Parasitoid Wasps

Parasitoid wasps range from some of the smallest species of insects to wasps about an inch long. Most females have a long, sharp ovipositor at the tip of the abdomen, sometimes lacking venom glands, and almost never modified into a sting.Parasitoids can be classified in a variety of ways. They can live within their host’s body as endoparasitoids, or feed on it from outside as ectoparasitoids: both strategies are found among the wasps. Parasitoids can also be divided according to their effect on their hosts. Idiobionts prevent further development of the host after initially immobilizing it, while koinobionts allow the host to continue its development while they are feeding upon it; and again, both types are seen in parasitoidal wasps. Most ectoparasitoid wasps are idiobiont, as the host could damage or dislodge the external parasitoid if allowed to move or moult. Most endoparasitoid wasps are koinobionts, giving them the advantage of a host that continues to grow larger and remains able to avoid predators.

Host Range
Many parasitoid wasps use larval Lepidoptera as hosts, but some groups parasitize different host life stages (egg, larva or nymph, pupa, adult) of nearly all other orders of insects, especially Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera and other Hymenoptera. Some attack arthropods other than insects: for instance, the Pompilidae specialise in catching spiders: these are quick and dangerous prey, often as large as the wasp itself, but the spider wasp is quicker, swiftly stinging her prey to immobilise it. Adult female wasps of most species oviposit into their hosts’ bodies or eggs. More rarely, parasitoid wasps may use plant seeds as hosts, such as Torymus druparum.Some also inject a mix of secretory products that paralyse the host or protect the egg from the host’s immune system; these include polydnaviruses, ovarian proteins, and venom. If a polydnavirus is included, it infects the nuclei of host hemocytes and other cells, causing symptoms that benefit the parasite.
Host size is important for the development of the parasitoid, as the host is its entire food supply until it emerges as an adult; small hosts often produce smaller parasitoids. Some species preferentially lay female eggs in larger hosts and male eggs in smaller hosts, as the reproductive capabilities of males are limited less severely by smaller adult body size.
Some parasitoid wasps mark the host with chemical signals to show that an egg has been laid there. This may both deter rivals from ovipositing, and signal to itself that no further egg is needed in that host, effectively reducing the chances that offspring will have to compete for food and increasing the offspring’s survival.