Gonatopus (wasp)

Gonatopus
Gonatopus zealandicus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Dryinidae
Subfamily: Gonatopodinae
Genus: Gonatopus
Ljungh, 1810
Type species
*Gonatopus formicarius
Ljungh, 1810
Species

See text

Gonatopus is a genus of solitary wasps of the family Dryinidae, sometimes called hump-backed pincer wasps. The wingless females have large scissor-like appendages at the tips of the front legs which are used to catch the leafhopper grubs which act as hosts to the larvae of these wasps. The larva consumes the leafhopper grub from the inside. An indication that a leafhopper is hosting a grub is a cyst of accumulated shed integuments which surround and protect the growing wasp larva.

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