NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF AUSTRALIAN BULLDOG ANTS (MYRMECIA) AND THEIR CHALCIDOID PARASITES OF THE GENUS AUSTEUCHARIS BOUCEK (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE, MYRMECIINAE, EUCHARITIDAE, EUCHARITINAE)
Rw. Taylor et al., NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF AUSTRALIAN BULLDOG ANTS (MYRMECIA) AND THEIR CHALCIDOID PARASITES OF THE GENUS AUSTEUCHARIS BOUCEK (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE, MYRMECIINAE, EUCHARITIDAE, EUCHARITINAE), Sociobiology, 23(2), 1993, pp. 109-114
Evidence is presented that Austeucharis parasites overwinter in Myrmec
ia nests either (1) as immatures cryptically associated with the larva
e and adults of those ant species which overwinter their own larvae; o
r(2) in the case of Myrmeciaspecies which do not themselves overwinter
brood, enclosed in pupal cocoons originally produced during the prece
ding summer by parasitized Myrmecia larvae (such cocoons being retaine
d in the ant nests long after the normal pre-winter Myrmecia emergence
season). Eucharitids have been previously reported to overwinter only
away from host ant nests as eggs laid in plant tissues.