Pentacladia sp. (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae: Eusandalinae)
I’m not entirely sure what makes a picture worth a thousand words, but for this week’s insect it’s lucky that there is a stunning image to offset the absence of a compelling story related to it. Pentacladia sp., captured during our project on the diversity of Kenyan insects, is one such species. Pentacladia is a small genus of less than 10 species that are mostly Palearctic (North Africa and southern Palearctic, Spain, Turkey) in distribution. Two species are known from South Africa. We collected Pentacladia sp. in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest on the Kenyan coast. Our specimen has stripes on the abdomen that are reminiscent of a revolving barber’s-pole (at least those seen in the USA). Recent molecular work has placed Pentacladia in the subfamily Eusandalinae along with only one other genus, Eusandalum.
Pentacladia are primary parasitoids of the metallic wood-boring beetle genera Acmaeodera, Anthaxia and Meliboeus (Buprestidae), and Pentacladia adults have been swept from dried branches of a fig tree that was being attacked by Agrilus sp., also a Buprestidae. Pentacladia eques was collected as an ectoparasitoid of buprestid larvae on Acacia species. There is also a record of Pentacladia parasitizing the pine processionary caterpillar Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae) (see the attached short video - (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P8tr0xnPEmU). In this instance, Pentacladia is providing its two-legged friends with a service, albeit limited, that reduces the numbers of this caterpillar, a major pest of European pine forests. In addition, contact with the hollow poisonous hairs that cover the caterpillar, can cause conjunctivitis and urticarial rashes. In persons allergic to the poison these conditions may become severe.
Credits: Dr Robert Copeland