Cryptic White-footed Ichneumon - Cryptus albitarsus - Weld County, CO - October 2015
Photographed at Windsor Reservoir. Per BugGuide, all Ichneumon Wasps are endoparasitic idiobionts of Lepidoptera. An idiobiont has a wide range of hosts and it eats, kills, or paralyzes the host immediately after oviposition therefore resulting in no continuation of development (I a not sure how this strategy allows a species to procreate, but ... I am just an idiohumanoid). An endoparasite feeds internally on its host whereas an ectoparasite feeds externally. Female Ichneumoninae look for hosts on the ground and have short ovipositors, possibly as a result of their host usually being a naked larvae. Adults typically feed on Adults feed on honey dew of aphids and on certain plant foliage.
Cryptus albitarsis hosts include Helicoverpa zea, Grapholita molesta, and some other common agricultural pests. The range of this species is eastern North America w. to the Rockies
Cryptic White-footed Ichneumon - Cryptus albitarsus - Weld County, CO - October 2015
Photographed at Windsor Reservoir. Per BugGuide, all Ichneumon Wasps are endoparasitic idiobionts of Lepidoptera. An idiobiont has a wide range of hosts and it eats, kills, or paralyzes the host immediately after oviposition therefore resulting in no continuation of development (I a not sure how this strategy allows a species to procreate, but ... I am just an idiohumanoid). An endoparasite feeds internally on its host whereas an ectoparasite feeds externally. Female Ichneumoninae look for hosts on the ground and have short ovipositors, possibly as a result of their host usually being a naked larvae. Adults typically feed on Adults feed on honey dew of aphids and on certain plant foliage.
Cryptus albitarsis hosts include Helicoverpa zea, Grapholita molesta, and some other common agricultural pests. The range of this species is eastern North America w. to the Rockies