Dusona is a genus of parasitoid wasps belonging to the family Ichneumonidae.[2] It is the most species rich genus of the subfamily Campopleginae with 442 known species.[3]
The genus has cosmopolitan distribution.[2]
Dusona is an easily recognized genus among other Campopleginae due to a number of clear diagnostic characteristics which include: elongated, oval or slit-shaped propodeal spiracles; a very strongly compressed metasoma; closed areolets and petiolar sutures that are often obliterated or positioned very low anteriorly. Additionally are many species able to reach unusually large body sizes, some exceeding 20 mm (see Dusona falcator). The thorax and head of most species are uniformly black, with the abdomen varying between black, red, brown, orange and yellow, with the fist tergit and the outer most tergites most usually black.[3]
All species of Dusona are parasitoids, with the main hosts being the larvae of Lepidopterans. The host is usually killed as a prepupa, in a few cases as a pupa.[4] Only one species, Dusona minor, has been reported as a parasitoid of larva outside of Lepidoptera, parasitoidizing the sawfly Monoctenus juniperi.[5]
Dusona is a genus of parasitoid wasps belonging to the family Ichneumonidae. It is the most species rich genus of the subfamily Campopleginae with 442 known species.
The genus has cosmopolitan distribution.
