Between extreme simplification and ideal optimization: antennal sensilla morphology of miniaturized Megaphragma wasps (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae).

ABSTRACT: One of the major trends in the evolution of parasitoid wasps is miniaturization, which has produced the smallest known insects. Megaphragma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are smaller than some unicellular organisms, with an adult body length of the smallest only 170 µm. Their parasitoid lifestyle depends on retention of a high level of sensory reception comparable to that in parasitoid wasps that may have antennae hundreds of times larger. Antennal sensilla of males and females of Megaphragma amalphitanum and M. caribea and females of the parthenogenetic M. mymaripenne are described, including sensillum size, external morphology, and distribution. Eight different morphological types of sensilla were discovered, two of them appearing exclusively on female

SUBMITTER: Diakova AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6276593 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature