A wonderful Bug Day

On September 7, I had the opportunity to participate as a volunteer in a "Bug Day", in the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. It was jointly sponsored by the Entomological Society of Ontario and the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, and brilliantly organized by Sophie Cardinal, a bee researcher from the Canadian National Collection of Insects (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada). The interested person can find more details of what happened that day and some photos here.

It was indeed a celebration of insects and Nature, with around one thousand participants attending and enjoying the many "attractions" that were prepared by the organizers. Tables were set up to showcase insect collections in drawers, living insects in cages, a fish tank with aquatic insects, cockroach races, nature walks (where collecting and later mounting of insects was taught), entomology-related crafts and face-painting, use of microscopes, exhibition of specimens used in actual biological control projects in Canada, and many more things. 

Among those tables there was one devoted to "Rearing Caterpillars", led by Chris Schmidt, a researcher on Lepidoptera working for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Chris had brought a number of caterpillars collected around Ottawa, including a few that could be touched by kids and adults. Over the four hours that the event ran, we talked to many persons interested in caterpillars and other aspects of Nature. We also enjoyed their faces when they examined some glass jars and tried to find larvae mimicking thin branches or bird droppings. It is this capacity to be surprised, while enjoying the new knowledge acquired, what makes so beautiful the study of the natural world. Especially for the small kids!

Chris Schmidt enjoying his talk with a family interested in caterpillars 
(Photo by Sophie Cardinal). 

 

I was fortunate to be there helping Chris, because I ended learning lots of things from his vast knowledge of local caterpillars -well, to be honest, his expertise goes way beyond local Lepidoptera. And it was also great to exchange from our different perspectives rearing caterpillars (Chris does it to get the adult moths and butterflies, while I do that to get their braconid parasitoid wasps). Two different worlds that nevertheless are deeply linked.

And, of course, I could not resist to bring some additional information... about those parasitoids. I printed a few images of parasitized caterpillars, and also wrote a small brochure on how to rear them -with the hope of attracting someone to this often-ignored task. It was great to find a few persons interested in such activities. At the end of the day I ran out of pictures and most of my brochures! 

Some images of caterpillars parasitized by microgastrine wasps 
(Images taken from Google Images).

Among people that impressed me the most were a couple of school teachers -both promised me that next spring they would try to get some students interested in rearing parasitoids from caterpillars... Hopefully I hear from then soon!

There was also a small kid who seemed to know very well the parasitoid wasps, and nicely explained to me the whole process of parasitism and emergence of the wasp larva from the caterpillar host ("How do you know that?", I asked him in awe, and he replied with ease "I found it in Wikipedia!". It was a wonderful experience). 

A simple explanation of what can be found when rearing caterpillars, part of the 

brochure on rearing caterpillars and parasitoids prepared for the Bug Day.

(Some images from Google Images, others taken by the author). 
 

And then there was another biologist, Alexander MacDonald, Manager of Protected Areas for Nature Canada. He was obviously very knowledgeable and interested, and got really excited with the idea of rearing parasitoids. We have kept corresponding since then, and I am delighted to see that collaborations can materialize in the most unexpected ways. 

At the end, this Bug Day was a great experience not only for those attending the event, but also for the volunteers. I do look forward to repeat the celebration the next year. And I certainly look forward to get involved with more citizens of Ottawa interested in rearing caterpillars parasitoids!

A braconid wasp in the COSEWIC List?

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) exists to provide Canadians and their governments with advice regarding the status of wildlife species that are nationally at risk of extinction or extirpation. Its committee of experts assesses and designates which wildlife species are in some danger of disappearing from the national territory. As part of  its work, COSEWIC produces a Candidate List of species. I strongly recommend to anyone interested in the protection of the Canadian nature to visit the COSEWIC website, and to support their work and that of similar organizations. [Disclaimer: I do not work for COSEWIC, nor I am involved with their efforts in any capacity].

My interest in COSEWIC, and the reason I am writing this post today is to discuss the POSSIBILITY of including a parasitoid Braconidae wasp within their list. Is that a real thing? Or am I just getting too excited with my subject of research?

Let's look at the facts and try to be impartial. COSEWIC List includes quite a few arthropods species. Which in itself is something truly amazing, especially in this world that usually focus its conservation efforts in large, charismatic fauna -conservation efforts also prioritize the flora, but I will leave plants out of this comment and will restrict myself to animals for the time being. 

Small animals, like insects, tend to be almost completely overlooked... unless they are "charismatic" by themselves, e.g. a beautiful butterfly, a conspicuous bumble bee, a colorful ground beetle, a large dragon fly, etc. But a small parasitoid wasp (2.5 mm long)... are you kidding me? Who cares about THAT?

Well, as they say "no harm in trying", and I am trying today to present the case for a first parasitoid wasp to be considered by COSEWIC: the microgastrine species Apanteles samarshalli Fernández-Triana, 2010.

The species was described very recently, in 2010, from specimens found mostly in southern Florida, United States (Everglades and the Florida Keys). I have also found additional specimens in two countries of Central America (data from unpublished studies). 

But, the original description also recorded the species from one Canadian locality: Rondeau Provincial Park, in southwestern Ontario. Rondeau truly honours its reputation of having species commonly found at much southern latitudes, because the single specimen collected there (in August of 1973, and deposited in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Ottawa) happens to be, by far, the northernmost known for the species.

Why Microgastrinae and why they may interest you

When rearing caterpillars, it is common to find some small parasitoid wasps (1.5-8 mm long), often black or yellow and with rather short "abdomen". They belong to the subfamily Microgastrinae (Order Hymenoptera, Family Braconidae), and are one of the most important groups parasitizing butterflies and moths (Order Lepidoptera). These wasps are key components in the biological control of agriculture and forestry pests; and have also been extensively used in biodiversity, ecological, behavioral and molecular studies. However, its narrow host specificity and extraordinary diversity (more than 2,200 described species, with an estimate of 20-40,000 worldwide) presents an immense challenge. 

Addressing the need of more information about those fascinating insects is the main reason of this website. Tips to recognize different genera, species profiles, new biological data, distribution records, and other comments will be provided in following posts. Also, the readers are encouraged to send any question and/or contribution they may have about microgastrines (or any braconid wasp) parasitizing caterpillars. 

Detailed distribution of species and their host records will be compiled from different sources (mostly mined from the large and rich collection available in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, as well as other collections I have visited and/or borrowed material from). Contents intend to be useful to anyone already working or just interested in rearing caterpillars and their parasitoids. It will hopefully interest workers on biological control, bioinformatics, biodiversity researchers, wasp taxonomists, conservation authorities and entomological societies looking for information of species in particular areas. 

What do we know about the largest Apanteles species in North America?

In a previous post it was mentioned that the braconid wasps of the subfamily Microgastrinae comprise specimens ranging from 1.5 to 8.0 mm of body length. The truth is that most of the microgastrines are rather small, usually 2.0 to 3.5 mm long. The "record" of 8 mm is reserved for "giant" specimens of Larissimus, a tropical genus in South America. However, in North America there are very few species that surpass the 4 mm mark, and most of those species are in the genera Microgaster and Protomicroplitis...

Among the largest specimens of microgastrine wasps in North America, the species Apanteles crassicornis stands on its own with around 5 mm of length. That species is also noteworthy because of its elongate face and enlarged glossa, which is supposedly related to the gathering of pollen or nectar. 

Apanteles crassicornis (Provancher, 1866). Antennae and legs are missing some segments. Photo of the holotype of the species, deposited in Laval University, Quebec.