ENY 3005 Family Identification

Identifying characteristics for the family Braconidae include:

• Antennae apparently with 16 or more segments.
• Hind trochanters 2-segmented.
• One or no recurrent veins.
• Usually black or brown; some common species with reddish markings.
• Females often with long ovipositors.

• Species in the family Braconidae are separated from those in Ichneumonidae by having none or just one recurrent vein rather than two.
• A large group with many life histories adapted to parasitizing hosts as diverse as aphids, bark beetles, and foliage-feeding caterpillars.
• Many species are egg-larval parasitoids, laying eggs within host eggs and then not developing until the host is in the larval stage.

References:

• Page 320 and plate 15 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Page 372 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Page 707 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Pages 585-586 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.

Links to other web sites

• The Parasitica -- Ichneumon, Chalcid, Braconid, Cynipid Wasps, etc. - Gordon's Insect World
• Cotesia marginiventris   
• Meteorus autographae   

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Links to other Hymenoptera taxa: Symphyta, Cimbicidae, Diprionidae, Siricidae, Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, Chrysididae, Scoliidae, Mutillidae, Formicidae, Pompilidae, Vespidae, Sphecidae, Halictidae, Apidae.
 

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Prepared by John L. Foltz, University of Florida, Dept of Entomology & Nematology, 26 November 1998.
Modified 12 June 2001.