| ANILASTUS EBENINUS LATR |
| Latin name: ANILASTUS EBENINUS LATR |
| Order: Hymenoptera |
| Family: Ichneumon (Hymenoptera)
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| Parasitized kinds: Larvas of Pieris brassicae and Pieris rapae |
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| Morphology and biology: |
| The Anilastus ebeninus is a small Hymenoptera of 6 - 8 mms of length, with a slenderand tapered body . It has a livery of greyish color with blackish tones; the legs are brownish - reddish and the wings are transparent with ochraceous tones. The female, thanks to a short but strong terebra, parasitizes the larvas of the Cabbage butterfly, when they are still of few millimeters (second - third age), deposing an egg for larva. The small larvas of the parasitoid, that are born after few days of incubation, start to feed themselves of the host emptying it completely, leaving the exuviae intact, that it will use to impupate itself and to form the cocoon. In practice the larva is turned into a mummified cocoon of 6 - 10 mms, of whitish color with blackish strips. The adult flutter from this small cocoon practising an evident hole. The Anilastus ebeninus completes 5 - 6 generations a year; it spends the winter as larva or pupa inside the host. This parasitoid is present in our environments and develops an effective action of natural control on the larvas of Cabbage butterfly; its rate of parasitization overcomes the 20 - 30% in some areas not subject to numerous interventions. |
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