First host record for Old World Yelicones (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Rogadinae) adds to evidence that they are strictly parasitoids of Pyralidae (Lepidoptera)

Abstract

The highly distinctive parasitoid wasp genus Yelicones is cosmopolitan and not infrequently collected, but very little is known about its biology. Here we report that Y. iranus is a parasitoid of caterpillars of the pyralid moth Phycita diaphana in Israel, the first host record for the genus from outside of the Americas. We illustrate the wasp’s mummified host, emergence hole and the wasp’s own cocoon which is constructed within the tanned mummified host remains. We hypothesize that a physiological or behavioural association of Yelicones parasitoids with the Pyralidae commenced at least during the early Miocene (ca. 16 Mya)