Euderus set

North America , USA ( Georgia , Louisiana , Mississippi , Texas , Florida ) ^[1] .

Morphology

Venation of the wing and head of the female (B) and male (C)

Small riders , the length of the females is from 1.6 to 2.3 mm, the length of the males is from 1.2 to 1.6 mm. The head , chest and abdomen are greenish-blue with a bronze metallic sheen, which reminds the wasp- glitter. Scape of antennae from white to yellow. Hips and lower legs monochromatic with mesoscutum, but lighter apically; tarsi white, except for dark brown terminal segments. Mandibles with three prongs. Clypeus is short, sub-square. Scape of antennae is 3.5 times longer than its width and equal to 0.6 of the length of the eyes. Antenna flagellum 9-segmented:Anellus - from two segments, funicular - four-segmented, mace - of three segments. Fore wings wide, extend beyond apex of abdomen; bear three supramarginal hairs on the left wing and four on the right; submarginal vein - with six dorsal setae. Hind wing equal to 0.8 of the length of the front wing. They differ from similar species in the submarginal vein of the wing bearing six dorsal setae (in Euderus crawfordi there are seven or eight of them) ^[1] .

Biology

Ectoparasitoids and hyperparasites (superparasites, as they parasitize on other parasites). Found in galls caused by Walnut Bassettia pallida Ashmead, 1896 on oak ( Quercus , subsection Virentes : Quercus virginiana and Q. geminata ). The Euderus set parasitizes on the gall-forming oak walnut Bassettia pallida , manipulates its development and causes it to go outside the gall in a biochemical way before the due date. In this case, the nut grower gnaws at a too small outlet and gets stuck in it, like a cork or plug. A parasite that develops and feeds on the inside of the host (which is twice as large), goes through the head of a stuck nut grower. Presumably, the Euderus set does not lay its egg not in the larva or pupa of the walnut, but through the shell of the gall into an already adult insect (imago). In galls with preimaginal stages of development (larvae and pupae of a nut-tree), the hyperparasitic riders themselves were not found ^{[1] [2] [3]} . Larvae of E. set overwinter and pupate next spring ^[4] . The exact mechanism for manipulating host behavior remains unknown ^[5] .

The Euderus set species was first described in 2017 by American entomologists Scott Egan ( Scott P. Egan , Rice University , Houston , USA ) and his colleagues. The taxon Euderus set is included in the genus Euderus Haliday, 1844 , which includes more than 70 species in the world fauna (13 in Europe) and in the subfamily Entiinae (= Euderinae) ^{[1] [6]} . E. set is closest to the species Euderus crawfodii and E. multilineata , which are part of the subgenus Neoeuderus , which are also known as specialized parasitoids of the walnut ( Cynipidae ) ^[1] .

The species name E. set comes from the name of the ancient Egyptian god Set (Seth, Egypt. Stẖ ). According to Kelly Wienersmith, one of the authors of the discovery, “Set was the god of chaos and evil, the Egyptians believed that he controlled other evil creatures. He also locked his brother Osiris to die in a crypt - it is simply amazing how many cool connections of an insect with a myth we could find ” ^{[1] [2]} .

• Yoshimoto CM Revision of the genus Euderus of America north of Mexico (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) // Canadian Entomologist . - 1971. - Vol. 103. - P. 541-578. - DOI : 10.4039 / Ent103541-4 .

• Noyes JS Eulophidae (English) . Universal Chalcidoidea Database. World Wide Web electronic publication. Date of treatment February 6, 2017.
• Victor Kovylin. A hyperparasite hypermanipulator turns the victim into a gag and goes through her head (Russian) . Batrachospermum . batrachospermum.ru. Date of treatment February 6, 2017.
• Euderus Haliday, 1844 (English) information on the Encyclopedia of Life website (EOL).
• Euderus Haliday, 1844 faunaeur.org. Date of treatment February 6, 2017.