butterfly parasites

[Chris Raper]

On Sun, 23 Jan 2000 12:16:29 -0800, "Ard108"
<bflybeards at ix.netcom.com> wrote:

>I have been raising leps for a few years now and have acquired quite a
>few parasites (various Diptera and Hymenoptera I believe) that emerge from
>the caterpillars and pupae.  It's time I try to identify them.  

Hi Brian

As Doug said, you are about to enter a whole new world of complexity
but if you are determined it can be a very rewarding field of study. I
got interested in parasitic flies & wasps a year ago and it has been
great fun learning all about them. 

The minimum you will need is a good microscope - up to x40 is usually
enough but x60 can be useful. I have a good quality binocular, zoom
'scope with a strong lighting rig (important at high magnification).
The magnification range is x7 to x45 and I haven't needed anything
stronger (yet!).

The Diptera are most likely to be of the family Tachinidae - in the UK
we use a key by Robert Belshaw - published by the Royal Entomological
Society. I'm afraid I don't know if you have an alternative in US.

The Hymenoptera are going to be the biggest problem, due to many
factors - the complexity of the group (probably the most species-rich
insect order), the lack of readily available keys (literature is often
very old, absent for lack of research, and/or scattered in journals),
the unusual terminology used in the keys ... etc ... etc

The alternative is to find an expert and ask them very nicely to help
you out. If you have good parasite/host data (because to reared them
out) they are likely to be very keen to help you - but they might want
to keep the specimen. Saying this, you are likely to get more help if
you have done a little of the leg-work yourself and taken the insect
down as far as you can - usually sub-family. That will at least narrow
down which person to approach as each researcher tends to specialise
in a small group.

There are good keys to sub-family level for many of the Hymenoptera.
"Hymenoptera of the world - an identification key to families" by
Goulet & Humber et al. is a good start and this covers everything from
Sawflies to Bumblebees to Gall Wasps. The key works well down to
family but there are one or two problems getting to sub-family in some
groups (e.g. Ichneumonidae). For Braconidae sub-families I would
recommend "Zoologische Verhandelingen: Illustrated key to the
subfamilies of the Braconidae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidae). By C. van
Achterberg, 1993. I have found it a very good key and the
illustrations are superb.

Hope that helps - and good luck! :-)
Chris R.