The Lasiocampoidea (includes tent caterpillars)

1. The Lasiocampoidea (includes tent caterpillars) forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma spp)

2. The Bombycoidea (stout-bodied moths with broad wings) • major families include the following • giant lappet moths (Eupterotid) • silkworms (Bombycidae) • atlas, emperor and royal moths (Saturniidae) regal moth (Citheronia regalis) domestic silkmoth (Bombyx mori) rosy maple moth (Dryocampa rubicunda)

3. The Bombycoidea (also contains the Sphingidae, which has just over 1,000 species) • hawk moths (sphigids) are large moths with a long proboscis that is curled under the head when not in use • some resemble bees and hummingbirds as they hover at flowers (feeding on nectar) • include the Death’s-head hawk moth death’s head hawk moth (Acherontia atropos) tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) w/ parasitoids

4. The Noctuoidea (largest lepidopteran superfamily with > 40,000 species) • major families include the following... • tussock moths (Lymantriids) • tiger moths (Arctiidae) • cutworms and armyworms (Noctuidae) gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) Woolly bear caterpillar and moth

5. The Noctuidae (one of the largest lepidopteran families with > 22,000 species) • caterpillars are called cutworms, armyworms, and loopers - they are among the most devastating agricultural pests cut worms (Agrotis spp.) European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis)

6. Class meeting: Nov. 21st Objectives: Distinguish Hymenoptera from other orders. Model the effects of parasitoids on populations of pests and plant yield

7. Sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants • (EE, pp. 259-275)

8. Phylogeny of Hexapoda from p. 52 Hymenoptera

9. Hymenoptera • Common name: Sawflies, wasps, bees and ants (198,000 known world species (19.8%)) • Derivation: Gk. hymen - membrane; pteron - a wing • Size: Body length 0.25-70 mm • Metamorphosis: Complete (egg, larva, pupa, adult) • Distribution: Worldwide, except Antarctica • Number of families: 91

10. Key Features • abundant and ubiquitous • body usually with constricted waist • some species live in social colonies • ovipositor may be modified as a sting • second largest order

12. Hymenoptera relationships (divided into two suborders - Symphyta and Apocrita) • the Symphyta are basal, with the Apocrita (honey bees, wasps and ants) being the more derived group

13. The Symphyta (the primitive group - they are herbivorous) • do not have a constricted waist • females have a saw-like ovipositor

14. The Apocrita (the presence of a waist allows for maneuverability for egg laying and defense) • parasitic apocritans have a slender and, sometimes, very elongate ovipositor for penetrating and laying egges in other insects • aculeate apocritans (e.g. honey bees and social wasps) have a modifed ovipositor in the form of a sting with an assoicated poison gland (Syngaster lepidus)

15. The Apocrita (what are the characteristics of apocritans?) • the first segment of the abdomen, called the propodeum, is fused to the thorax • the second and, sometimes, the third abdominal segments are very narrow and form the petiole, which gives the distinctive wasp-waisted appearance • the swollen remainder of the abdomen behind the petiole is called the gaster or metasoma gaster propodeum petiole petiole

16. Two types of larvae (caterpillar-like (Symphyta) or grub-like (Apocrita)) • sawfly larvae have a well-defined head capsule, three pairs of thoracic legs, and abdominal prolegs • apocritan larvae (e.g. honey bees and social wasps) tend to be simple and maggot- or grub-like with no legs and a reduced head capsule

17. Herbivory is primitive (sawfly larvae are herbivorous on a wide range of plants) • parasitism and carnivory may have arisen via inquiline species that may originally have been herbivores inside plant galls or other plant tissues - they progressed to eating other small herbivores

18. The Siricoidea (about 100 species of horntails or wood wasps - attack trees) • large and stout and often strikingly colored - black or metallic blue, or with yellow hornet-like markings • the end of the abdomen has a distinctive terminal spine - it is short in males and spear-like in females pigeon horntail (Tremex columba) Oregon horntail (Urocerus gigas)

19. Tenthredo basilaris Ericampa ovatula dusky birch sawfly (Croesus latitarusus) The Tenthredinoidea (the biggest sawfly superfamily - 4,000 species (85% of all sawflies)) • larvae feeding on tree leaves, including pines, and are gregarious and warningly colored (aposematic) • when larvae are attacked, they jerk their bodies upright and exude distasteful resins

20. Monodontomerusdentipes feeding on Diprion pini Cotesia spp feeding on Manduca sexta Parasitoid lifestyle (most species of parasitoids are hymenopterans) • can feed inside (endoparasitoid) or outside (ectoparasitoid) • they always kill their hosts upon completion of development • many parasitoids are used in biological control programs against pest insects

21. Ichneumonid attacking a caterpillar The Ichneumonoidea (dominated by 2 huge familes - each with around 50,000 species) • Ichneumonids are typically ecto- and endoparasitoids of larvae and pupae of holometabolous insects, although some are hyperparasitoids • braconids tend to be parasitoids of hemimetabolous insects, such as bugs, barklice and termites braconid attacking an aphid

22. red cone gall wasp (Andricus kingii) The Cynipoidea (outside of the tenthredinids, most Hymenoptera gall forms are cynipids) • many species use oaks and related trees as their host plants • lots of variation in the type of gall that is formed • gall formers have complicated life cycles involving sexual and asexual generations (all females in late summer and autumn)

23. The Chalcidoidea (23,000 species representing 21 families - very small & small parasitic wasps) • some are herbivores or seed feeders or gall formers - includes the fig wasps (in the family Agaonidae)

24. dryinid larvae emerging from a leaf hopper The Chrysidoidea (members of the 7 families that make up this group are parasitoids) • the Bethylidae attack caterpillars and beetle larvae, the Dryinidae attack auchenorrhynchan nymphs - the sting from a female causes paralysis and death • chrysidids, or jewel wasps, are metallic in color, and roll into a ball to protect against wasp and bee stings chrysidid wasp fuzzy fringed butterfly (Nathalis iole)

25. The Vespoidea (more than 22,000 species in 9 families) • the velvet ants (Mutillidae) - the males have wings but the females are wingless, and lay their eggs in developing bee larvae • the spider hunting wasps (Pompilidae) • common or paper wasps belong to the Vespidae velvet ant (Dasymutilla vestita) spider wasp paper wasp (Polistes exclamans) (Texas)

26. great golden digger wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) blue hunting wasp (Chlorion spp.) The Sphecoidea (a single family, the sphecids, with about 8,000 species) • the Sphecidae contains the solitary hunting wasps, digger wasps, and sand wasps • female sphecids catch prey, paralyze it with their sting, and transport it back to the nest where they will seal it in with an egg • prey items include other insects and spiders