Wasp

Wasp

The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...

s in the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Larra are parasitoid

Parasitoid

A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host organism in a relationship that is in essence parasitic; unlike a true parasite, however, it ultimately sterilises or kills, and sometimes consumes, the host...

s which prey upon varying species of mole cricket

Mole cricket

The mole crickets compose family Gryllotalpidae, of thick-bodied insects about long, with large beady eyes and shovel-like forelimbs highly developed for burrowing and swimming. They can also fly: the adult mole cricket may fly as far as during mating season, is active most of the year, and...

s. Found worldwide in the tropics, they have gained prominence as integrated pest management

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management is an ecological approach to agricultural pest control that integrates pesticides/herbicides into a management system incorporating a range of practices for economic control of a pest...

 agents.

Life cycle

Larra wasps feed on nectar as adults. Female wasps hunt adult or late instar

Instar

An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each molt , until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, or...

 mole crickets and lay their eggs

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

 upon them, first temporarily paralyzing

Paralysis

Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...

 them by stinging

Stinger

-Biology:* Stinger, an organ or body part found in various animals that usually delivers some kind of venom.* Stinger , a minor neurological injury suffered by athletes.-Sports and entertainment:...

 them on the underside. The larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

, upon hatching, gradually consumes the host, eventually killing it. It then pupa

Pupa

A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...

tes in or near the remains. The adults are solitary and do not form colonies. Incubation and development are highly variable in length and dependent upon temperature; in winter the larvae may enter diapause

Diapause

Diapause is the delay in development in response to regularly and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions. It is considered to be a physiological state of dormancy with very specific initiating and inhibiting conditions...

. Each Larra species preferentially hunts a particular set of prey species, even when related prey is available.

The temporary paralysis of the host is a distinctive feature of the genus. Other related wasps generally paralyze the host permanently and secret it so that the larva can consume it undisturbed.

Larra polita, which is endemic to the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, has been successfully introduced to Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 to help control Gryllotalpa orientalis

Gryllotalpa orientalis

Gryllotalpa orientalis is a species of mole cricket in the family Gryllotalpidae, commonly known as the oriental mole cricket. It is found in much of Asia and also in Australasia. At one time this species was misidentified as G. africana and thought to have a widespread distribution in both Africa...

, the oriental mole cricket.

Species

Larra amplipennis

Larra analis

Larra anathema

Larra betsika

Larra bicolor

Larra bicolor

Larra bicolor is a parasitoid wasp native to South America. After two unsuccessful attempts, it was introduced successfully into a limited area of Florida in 1981 as an biological pest control of invasive mole crickets.-Description:...

Larra bulawayoensis

Larra carbonaria

Larra godmani

Larra luzonensis

Larra pacifica

Larra polita luzonensis

Larra scapteriscica