. Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. amily Scelionidae. They occur almost through-out the range of Embiidina. The writer has rearedand preserved numerous host-associated lots of spec-imens which should represent many new species. Thiscollection is being studied by L. Masner. The fe-males of some species are pale ferrugineous and of-ten apterous or subalate (brachypterous). Successivegenerations can be reared in embiid cultures. At timesonly one sex of the wasps, usually males, appear in aparticular culture. The tendency of most embiid species to coat theireggs with a hard
. Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. amily Scelionidae. They occur almost through-out the range of Embiidina. The writer has rearedand preserved numerous host-associated lots of spec-imens which should represent many new species. Thiscollection is being studied by L. Masner. The fe-males of some species are pale ferrugineous and of-ten apterous or subalate (brachypterous). Successivegenerations can be reared in embiid cultures. At timesonly one sex of the wasps, usually males, appear in aparticular culture. The tendency of most embiid species to coat theireggs with a hardened paste of chewed debris and theirfeces, may reduce oviposition by the wasps. Guard-ing by the parent female may also protect a large per-centage of the eggs in a mass (Fig. 42). PATHOLOGICAL HAZARDS: Disease epi-demics may weaken and even kill all individuals in aculture. It is assumed that such diseases also occur innature but probably do not have such a catastrophiceffect due to scattered occurrence of host coloniesand consequent reduced Figure 42. Adult female of Cibocercus n. sp. from Ecuador resting on her mass of eggscovered with layers of silk. Note egg parasite approaching from her rear. ROSS: EMBIA. BIOSYSTEMATICS OFTHE ORDER EMBIIDINA, PART2 35 No studies specific to embiids have been madeof these diseases but one can speculate that they arecaused by viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens notnecessarily restricted to embiids. In some cases ac-tivity of the victim will slow and eventually cease,the body turning reddish as its tissues liquefy. Incases of fungal infection, white mycelia begin tooutline somites and sclerites of the embiid victimand later its entire body becomes a fuzzy, moldy M. Thomas of the University of Californiaidentified the pathogen of one such epidemic, in aculture of an oligotomid from northwest Thailand,as Beauveria bassiana. He commented that this isthe most commonly occurring insect pathogenic fun-gus in the world, a
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