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Tessaropa tenuipes
Classification
Diagnostic Features of Larvae
- Larva. Form cylindrical, slender, elongate; integument thin, shining, sparsely covered with short yellowish hairs. Head transversely sub-orbicular, rather thick, mouth-frame light lemon-colored, not strongly corneous; labrum fleshy, transversely oval; mandible rather robust and broad at apex, basal piece distinct, light, castaneous, slightly shorter than apical, Latter piceous j antennae minute, conical, retractile; ocellus indistinct, white, oval; gena not shouldered, bearing a row of 6 to 8 very long, slender, recurved bristles. Ventral mouthparts fleshy, last maxillary joint longer than second; process of palpifer absent; submentum sunken below anterior margin of hypostoma, fused with membranous gula; epicranium bearing a short prominent carina just below the ventral articulation of the mandible. Prothorax subquadrate, depressed; pronotum rectangular, with a border of long hairs in front, posteriorly substriate, merging into dull fine granulations, no median suture; postnotal fold absent; eusternum faintly denned, triangular; ventrolateral sutures impressed, widely divergent anteriorly; sternellar fold broadly fused at extremities into epipleurum; legs minute, about as long as labial palpi; tarsus not chitinized. Abdomen: Ampullae shining, granulate, with two faint lateral and one faint transverse impression; pleural discs indistinct. Spiracles orbicular, minute, peritreme not corneous. Pupa: Slender, cylindrical, essentially unarmed except for a transverse row of double-pointed (one point extending anteriorly, the other posteriorly) chitinous spines on second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth abdominal terga; seventh armed with simple spines irregularly disposed, this segment also broadly emarginate below. Adapted from Craighead (1923).
Biology and Economic Importance
- The larva breeds in small dead branches of Quercus, Fagus and Carya, and is rarely found in twigs over one-fourth of an inch in diameter. It completely hollows these twigs, forming pupal cells between two wads of frass. Pupation and transformation to adult occur in late summer or fall. Adapted from Craighead (1923).
Selected References to Larvae Specimens
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