1. DISTRIBUTION
E. manifestator[1] is a less common wasp that can be found throughout the Netherlands [6]. In the garden the species is a permanent resident that is present on the bee hotels every year.
2. BEHAVIOUR
2.1. ACTIVITY
The species is activ from April until November [6].
2.2. DEVELOPMENT
The wasp is a parasite on wasps, bees [2,3,4,5] and beetles [8].
The female deposites her eggs in the nests of her host using her long ovipositor. Using the ovipositor she penetrates the nestplug that the host used to close the nest entrance, or she uses cracks in the substrate that contains the host nest, see here.
The larvae of PIMPLINAE sub-family, and so E. manifestator as well, are ectoparasites [9].
The larvae develop from late summer to spring and puppate in April, or earliest March [8]. After the puppa has shedded it’s larval skin the ovipositor start to extend during a period of ±1 – 1,5 hours [8]. The boundaries of the cell are responsible for bending the ovipositor into its definitive shape bended parallel to the back and over the puppa head [8].
When the adult emerges from the puppa the ovipositor is pulled out of it by pulling and pushing the shafts of the ovipositor. The forward pointing hairs on the shafts play an important in pushing on the puppa skin [8].
The shafts consist of two halves that are folded over the ovipositor and hooked together.
3. PARASITIC RELATIONS
E. manifestator is a parasite on the following species in the garden:
| Bees (APOIDAE) | –Red mason bee (Osmia bicornis) [5] –European orchard bee (Osmi cornuta) [5] –Ridge-saddled carpenter bee (Heriades truncorum) [5] |
| Wasps (HYMENOPTERA) | –Passaloecus gracilis [4] –Trypoxylon figulus [2,3,4] |
4. IDENTIFICATION
There are a number of PIMPLINAE wasps that look very similar to this species and which are difficult to distinguish, especially:
- DOLICHOMITUS (does not fly on bee hotels [7] )
- SCAMBUS
- TOWNESIA
- PARAPERITHOUS (Tergite 2 with strongly indented corners [2])
- LIOTRYPHON
Principle characteristic is the width of the face, that of E. manifestator is the widest.
It is a middle-large to large wasp [2].
The charcteristics of the species are [2]:
1. length ovipositor > 3,6x length hind tibia
2. Clypeus wide, wider than 1,7x height from antenna base to lower edge clypeus
3. Inner eye line impression start well below antenna base
4. Mandibles long, with two teeth. Lower tooth 2x longer than upper
Literature
1 Nederlands Soortenregister2 FITTON, Michael Geoffrey, et al. Pimpline ichneumon-flies. Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae (Pimplinae). Pimpline ichneumon-flies. Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae (Pimplinae)., 1988, 7.1.
3 MATSUMOTO, Rikio. A new host record of Ephialtes hokkaidonis Uchida (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) with a description of oviposition behavior. BULLETIN-OSAKA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 2005, 59: 41.
4 MACIVOR, Scott. Adult emergence order in a community of cavity-nesting bees and wasps, and their parasites. bioRxiv, 2019, 556456.
5 Peeters, T.M.J., C. van Achterberg, W.R.B. Heitmans, W.F. Klein, V. Lefeber, A.J. van Loon, A.A. Mabelis, H. Nieuwen-huijsen, M. Reemer, J. de Rond, J. Smit, H.H.W. Velthuis, 2004. De wespen en mieren van Nederland (Hymenoptera: Aculeata). – Nederlandse Fauna 6. Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis, Leiden, knnv Uitgeverij, Utrecht & European Invertebrate Survey – Nederland, Leiden.
6 Waarneming.nl
7 Breugel, P. van 2014. Gasten van bijenhotels. – EIS Kenniscentrum Insecten en andere ongewervelden & Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden.
8 BAUMANN, Carl. BEOBACHTUNGEN ÜBER DIE METAMORPHOSE DER SCHLUPFWESPEN COLEOCENTRUS EXCITATOR PODA UND EPHIALTES MANIFESTATOR L. Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Ökologie der Tiere, 1927, 9.1/2: 313-332.
9 GAULD, Ian D.; WAHL, David B.; BROAD, Gavin R. The suprageneric groups of the Pimplinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): a cladistic re-evaluation and evolutionary biological study. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 136.3: 421-485.
