Family Pipunculidae (Diptera) as endoparasitoids of the cicada: Agricultural pest (Homoptera)

Abstract

The Pipunculidae Family are obligate endoparasitoids of Homoptera, notably Cicadellidae, Cercopidae, Delphacidae, Membracidae, Issidae, Cixiidae and Flatidae. They mainly attack their nymphs in different stages of development. It has been also recorded the development of some species of Neph rocerus Ikon, 1873 in Tipulids (Diptera: Tipulidae). Female flies usually look for suitable prey and introduce eggs into the host's hemocoel via a penetrating ovipositor. A host attacked by pipunculides is usually in the late nymphal stages; flies of the genus Verralia affect only the imaginal stage of the host (Cercopidae, whose nymphs live in foam masses and are therefore protected from pipunculids). The aim of this study is to report the characteristics of the family Pipunculidae endoparasitoids of cicada (Order Homoptera (Insecta: Homoptera). For this, a bibliographic survey of Scoliidae was carried out in the years 1919 to 2021. Only complete articles published in scientific journals and expanded abstracts presented in national and international scientific events were considered.