Hemisturmia parva ( Bigot, 1889 )

O’Hara, James E., 2005, A review of the tachinid parasitoids (Diptera: Tachinidae) of Nearctic Choristoneura species (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), with keys to adults and puparia, Zootaxa 938, pp. 1-46 : 24-25

Hemisturmia parva ( Bigot, 1889) , Fig. 43

Host records ex. Choristoneura fumiferana: Dowden et al. 1951, as Phorocera tortricis ex. Archips fumiferana (NY); Huber et al. 1996, as Hemisturmia tortricis (NB).

Host records ex. Choristoneura fumiferana and/or Choristoneura occidentalis : † Arnaud 1978, as Hemisturmia tortricis ex. C. fumiferana (BC, NY).

Host records ex. Choristoneura fumiferana , Choristoneura occidentalis and/or Choristoneura pinus : † Ross 1952, as Phorocera tortricis ex. spruce and/or jack pine budworm ( Canada).

Host records ex. Choristoneura occidentalis: Harris & Dawson 1979, as Hemisturmia tortricis (BC).

Host records probably ex. Choristoneura occidentalis: Wilkes et al. 1949, as Phorocera tortricis ex. C. fumiferana (BC); † Coppel 1960, as Ceratochaeta tortricis ex. C. fumiferana (BC).

Host records ex. Choristoneura occidentalis and/or Choristoneura retiniana: Schaupp et al. 1991, as Hemisturmia tortricis (OR).

Host records ex. Choristoneura pinus: Dixon & Benjamin 1963, as Phorocera tortricis (WI); † Arnaud 1978, as Hemisturmia tortricis (WI); † Huber et al. 1996, as Hemisturmia tortricis ( America north of Mexico).

Host records ex. Choristoneura rosaceana: Schuh & Mote 1948, as Phorocera tortricis ex. Archips rosaceana (OR); † Arnaud 1978, as Hemisturmia tortricis (OR); † Huber et al. 1996, as Hemisturmia tortricis ( America north of Mexico); Li et al. 1999, as Hemisturmia tortricis (BC); † Li et al. 2002, as Hemisturmia tortricis (BC); Wilkinson et al. 2004 (MI).

Host records ex. Choristoneura rosaceana and/or Pandemis limitata: Vakenti et al. 2001, as Hemisturmia tortricis (BC); Cossentine et al. 2004 (BC).

Hemisturmia parva is found throughout most of the forested regions of North America ( O’Hara & Wood 2004). Adults are generally 5–7.5mm long, rather dark coloured, with an exceptionally large eye, a striped or black thorax, mostly orange scutellum, and banded or mottled abdomen. Hemisturmia parva was included in a key to the puparia of dipterous parasitoids of Choristoneura species by Ross (1952, as Phorocera tortricis ) and in a key to the adults of dipterous parasitoids of C. occidentalis (as C. fumiferana ) in British Columbia by Coppel (1960, as Ceratochaeta tortricis ).

Hemisturmia belongs to the Winthemiini, a tribe in which the females oviposit unincubated eggs directly on a host ( Wood 1987). The first instar probably develops within the egg for several days, then exits the egg and burrows into the host. Hemisturmia parva attacks late instar larvae of Choristoneura and emerges from the larva or, more commonly, the pupa ( Schuh & Mote 1948; Harris & Dawson 1979; Li et al. 1999). It has at least two generations per year and its method of overwintering is not known ( Schaffner 1959). Parasitism rates are rarely above 1% in Choristoneura species ( Dixon & Benjamin 1963; Harris & Dawson 1979; Schaupp et al. 1991; Li et al. 1999). Wilkes et al. (1949) did not include H. parva (as Phorocera tortricis ) among the 15 dominant hymenopterous and dipterous parasitoids of C. occidentalis (as C. fumiferana ) in British Columbia, and Tilles and Woodley (1984) excluded it from their manual of spruce budworm parasitoids in Maine.

Hemisturmia parva is recorded from more than ten species of Tortricidae and a species each in the families Glyphipterygidae , Nymphalidae , Pterophoridae , and Pyralidae ( Arnaud 1978, as H. tortricis ; Fitzpatrick et al. 1994, as H. tortricis ).

Figures

FIGURES 43 – 48. 43. Habitus images. Hemisturmia parva. 44. Hyphantrophaga virilis. 45. Lypha fumipennis. 46. Madremyia saundersii. 47. Nemorilla pyste. 48. Nilea erecta.