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All scelionid wasps are parasitoids of the eggs of other arthropods, that is, females lay their own
eggs within the eggs of other species of insects or spiders. The wasp larva that hatches consumes
the contents of the host egg and pupates within it. A wide range of taxa serve as hosts: besides
spiders, insect hosts include grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera sensu stricto), praying
mantids (Mantodea), webspinners (Embiidina), true bugs (Hemiptera: both Heteroptera and
Auchenorrhyncha), lacewings (Neuroptera), beetles (Coleoptera), flies (Diptera) and butterflies
and moths (Lepidoptera). The host range of individual species and genera varies from those that
are specific to one host to those, such as Telenomus, that are known to parasitize species in four
different insect orders. Many of the hosts of scelionids are pests of considerable importance in
agriculture, forestry, and both human and animal health, for example, the gypsy moth (Lymantria
dispar), migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), sunn pest (Eurygaster integriceps), kissing bugs
(Triatoma, Rhodnius), and horse flies (Tabanus spp.). A number of species have been used as
biological control agents with notable success.
Last updated: 17 January 2004
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