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Family Pteromalidae
This tiny wasp (about 2.5mm long) appeared on these fresh leaf beetle eggs within a minute of them being laid.
On eucalyptus leaves in a local nature reserve.
[ Beetles Paropsisterna sp. (possibly P obovata?)
There were many of these eggs and the above species of beetle on this single small sapling. ]
Peter Chew says late in summer all eggs are parasitised whereas earlier only some are... balance of nature?
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b...
Spotted on Feb 23, 2014
Submitted on Feb 24, 2014
5 Comments
Thanks for the great information John.
Pteromalidae (in the Chalcidoidea).
There are a couple of Australian pteromalid genera that are known to specialise on eggs of Paropsinae (e.g. Neopolycystus, Enoggera), but it is difficult to identify pteromalids to genus even with preserved specimens and a good microscope.
...actually I think it was still doing eeny meeny miny mo.
The usual Sergio - no specs!! I didn't even know I had this wasp until I blew the pics up later 8(
Very, very good, Mark. Do you know how many eggs the wasp infected?