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Camptothlipsis Enderlein

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera;  Superfamily: Ichneumonoidea; Family: Braconidae; Subfamily: Agathidinae)

Camptothlipsis Enderlein, 1920

Camptothlipsis aagota Tucker & Sharkey, 2012

Camptothlipsis inertusursus Tucker & Sharkey, 2012

Camptothlipsis lingualongis Tucker & Sharkey, 2012

Distribution

Afrotropical region: South Africa (also Oriental region: Thailand, Vietnam).

Biology

The South African endemic Lingualongis species-group of Camptothlipsis is hypothesised to have an obligate symbiotic relationship with their host flowers: the host plant provides nectar and host lepidopterans, and the wasp pollinates and protects the plant by keeping host lepidopteran populations in check (Tucker et al., 2012). The exceptionally elongate mouthparts comprise the   glossa which extracts nectar and is then retracted into the galeae, which closes around the glossa enabling the nectar to be sucked into the alimentary canal (Pucci and Sharkey, 2004). Two hypotheses were forwarded to explain the extreme elongation of mouthparts in this group: 1) they are highly specialized nectar feeders and dependent on the flower of the plant on which their host lepidopterans feed or 2) that the long mouthparts facilitate the extraction of nectar from a wide variety of flowers with both shallow and deep nectaries (Tucker et al., 2012).

References

Pucci, T., & Sharkey, M. 2004. A revision of Agathirsia Westwood (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Agathidinae) with notes on mouthpart evolution. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 13: 64–107.

Tucker, E.M.; Sharkey, M.J.; Stoelb, S.A.C. 2012. A new species-group of Camptothlipsis (Braconidae, Agathidinae) from South Africa, with notes on the evolution of long mouthparts. Journal of Hymenoptera research, 24: 59-74. doi: 10.3897/JHR.24.1909

Credits

Photographs © Erika Tucker, Mike Sharkey, Stephanie Stoelb (University of Kentucky).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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