File:Ichneumonidae ecology.jpg

Summary

The Ichneumonoidea comprises a huge group (over 100,000 estimated species worldwide) of primarily parasitoid insects that attack other arthropods, especially the immature stages of other insects (Gauld and Bolton, 1988; Wahl and Sharkey, 1993). A few taxa are secondarily phytophagous, and several groups that attack egg masses or food provisions of other arthropods are difficult to classify as either "parasitic", predaceous or parasitoid. The species of Ichneumonoidea vary tremendously in size, from approximately 1 mm in length to 5-6 cm (even larger if the ovipositor of some larger species is included).

Copyright status:

this image is made available by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ creative commons license

Source:

http://www.eol.org/data_objects/8747806