Hoverfly parasite
Diplazon laetatorius
33.135, -117.034
Field Notes
Description:
Female, black, red and white, Ichneumon wasp. "Larvae feed on a wide variety of dipterous hosts, especially aphidophagous syrphid flies; it also attacks some Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. Adults have been observed to feed on syrphid eggs."
Habitat:
Pomegranate tree in backyard. "This species likely has the greatest geographic range of any ichneumonid (and perhaps any hymenopteran) having been recorded from the Canadian Arctic to Argentina, from Norway to South Africa and Japan to New Zealand including many remote oceanic Islands."
Notes:
"As with the subfamily, the vast majority of host records of D. laetatorius are from Syrphidae (20 genera). Its wide range is likely a result of human agriculture that has spread it along with aphids and aphidophagous syrphids. Because it parasitizes aphidophagous syrphids it can be considered a pest. It has been reported to parasitize as many as 75% of syrphid larvae."
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