
Thursday 15 February
The World's Favourite Unloved Species 2018 - the Galapagos Racer
Kingdom | Animalia |
Phylum | Arthropoda |
Class | Insecta |
Order | Hymenoptera |
Family | Ichneumonidae |
Genus | Ophion (1) |
This slender parasitic wasp has a yellowish or orange coloured body with a distinctive ‘waist’ (2) and a very short ovipositor(3). They are sometimes mistakenly called flies, but they are wasps, with two pairs of clear membranous wings (3) and long antennae(4). There are 1200 species of ichneumon wasp in Britain alone (3) and this is the largest family of insects known, with over 60,000 species worldwide (4).
Ichneumon wasps are parasitoids; females lay their eggs on a caterpillar and the wasp larva burrows into and develops inside this host, eating its internal tissues and eventually killing it after it pupates. The adult ichneumon flies emerge from the remains of the dead host and are active at night (1) (2). Two generations are produced each year; the adults of the first generation are present from May to June, those of the second generation from November to December (1).
Common in Britain (1). Species belonging to the genus Ophion are found around the world (5).
Ophion species are found in a wide range of habitats, but tend to occur in woodlands and farmland (5).
Not threatened.
This species is not threatened at present.
Conservation action has not been targeted at this common species.
For more on invertebrates see Buglife, the invertebrate conservation trust:
http://www.buglife.org.uk/
Image credit
© Jacques Rosès / Biosphoto
Biosphoto
19 Rue du Vieux Sextier
Avignon
84000
France
Tel: +33 (490) 162 042
Fax: +33 (413) 416 110
http://www.biosphoto.com/
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Thursday 15 February
The World's Favourite Unloved Species 2018 - the Galapagos Racer
Thursday 01 February
Thursday 01 February