Cardiochiles (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of lepidopterous larvae, in the Sahel of Africa, with a review of the biology and host relationships of the genus

Abstract

In the ecologically sensitive Sahel of West Africa, two major crop pests, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) and Heliocheilus albipunctella (de Joannis), are attacked by Cardiochiles variegatus Szepligeti and C. sahelensis sp. n., respectively. The twelve Cardiochiles species present in the Sahel are revised, and a key is given for their identification. Five of these species (C. calvus sp.n., C. coelofrons sp. n., C. exiguurus sp. n., C. nixoni sp. n. and C. sahelensis sp. n.) are described, and C. striatus Brues is made a synonym of C. punctatus Szepligeti. Host relationships of the genus worldwide are discussed and the host records, principally involving Pyralidae and Noctuidae, collated. The known biology is summarized from the literature on the North American species C. nigriceps Viereck, and a comprehensive bibliography on the genus is given. Abstract

Functional, evolutionary and ecological aspects of feeding-related mouthpart specializations in parasitoid flies

“…It is noteworthy that many parasitoid wasps possessing CNEA, and most Bombyliidae and Nemestrinidae, occur in, and in some cases may be restricted to, arid or semi-arid habitats (e.g. Huddleston & Walker [1988], on Cardiochiles of the Sahel region of Africa).…”

Two new species and distribution records for the genus Bohayella Belokobylskij, 1987 from Costa Rica (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Cardiochilinae)

“…Bohayella Belokobylskij, 1987 (Belokobylskij 1987) is an unusual genus of the subfamily, with nine previously described species that are only known from the Old World, including Afrotropical, Australasian, Oriental, and southern central Palearctic regions (Dangerfield et al 1999;Mercado and Wharton 2003;Yu et al 2012). Among the nine Old World species of Bohayella, two species, B. adina (Wilkinson, 1930) and B. exiguurus (Huddleston & Walker, 1988), have rearing records (Huddleston and Walker 1988). B. adina was reared from larvae of Phazaca theclata (Guenée, 1857) (Lepidoptera: Uraniidae) in India, (Beeson and Chatterjee 1935;Dangerfield 1995;Dangerfield et al 1999), and B. exiguurus was reared from larvae of the citrus looper Cleora tulbaghata (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) South Africa (Dangerfield et al 1999).…”

An Illustrated Key to the Subfamilies of Family Braconidae (Ichneumonoidea: Hymenoptera) from District Okara, Pakistan

“…Almost all cardiochilines are endoparasitic. They are highly important in any agro-ecosystem because they feed upon pests belonging to lepidopterous families Pyralidae and Noctuidae (Huddleston and Walker, 1988). Cardiochilines are important in biological control programs as they have been recorded from destructive pests like Heliothis and Helicoverpa species (Dangerfield and Austin, 1995).…”