The Braconid Wasps are a large family of solitary wasps. These helpful predators are usually brownish or black. They tend to be small (usually in the 7 mm or ¼ in. range) and less slender than their close relatives, the Ichneumon wasps. The abdomen is usually short and stout compared to the long abdomen of many Ichneumons. The antennae are fairly long and the ovipositor of the female may be short or long as in the Ichneumons. It takes close examination of the wing venation to differentiate many Braconids from Ichneumons with certainty.
The adult wasps may be found at flowers eating pollen or nectar. Hint for gardeners: gardens with lots of suitable flowers enjoy fewer pest problems than those without. Suitable flowers (called insectary flowers) are simple flowers with shallow exposed nectaries like those in the daisy or carrot families.
Like Ichneumons, Braconids are parasitoid predators, and individual Braconid species are closely tied to specific hosts. The female Braconid looks for a suitable host insect and plants her eggs on or inside the doomed selection. Caterpillars, sawfly larvae, maggots and aphids are common hosts.
Some Braconid activity you might spot are shriveled caterpillars covered in small white capsules which are the cocoons of pupating Braconids that have emerged after eating the hapless caterpillar. Look at mummified aphids through a hand lens and you might spot the perfectly little round ‘porthole’ in the back through which a small Braconid has emerged.
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YVES DANSEREAU
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