# They found these wasps in the research hive at the university.



## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

They found these wasps in the research hive at the university. I was told they are pretty common if you look for them. 
Apanteles galleriae Wilkinson
(Figs. 2Ð5)
Apanteles galleriae Wilkinson, 1932. Stylops 1: 139. Holotype female, Natural History Museum, London, examined.
Wilkinson (1932) provided an excellently detailed and illustrated original description of the species.
Here, we provide a series of illustrations (Figs. 2Ð5) of critical features for its identification to supplement the key presented below and outline some important aspects of its biology.
This species has been reared throughout much of the world from the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.), in honey bee colonies. The species has obviously been introduced into many countries inadvertently with the transport of honey bees. It is a solitary parasitoid of early-instar larvae of wax moths and emerges to spin its cocoon and pupate well before the host larvae reach full size, usually before the final instar. Whitfield and Cameron (1993) also reported A. galleriae to be a parasitoid of Vitula edmandsae (Packard), the common wax moth in North American Bombus colonies. The parasitism in this case was observed when bumble bee colonies were reared in close proximity to honey bee colonies. It is not surprising that A. galleriae can attack both moth species, because they are both in the same family (Pyralidae), and V. edmandsae was reported by Frison (1926) to be found occasionally within Apis colonies. In the cases where Vitula is the host, emergence is generally from fully grown larvae, which are still much smaller than mature Galleria larvae. A. galleriae spins a white silken cocoon, often permanently attached by silk threads to some part of the nest substrate or surrounding structure. If the parasitoid is numerous, the cocoons may be spun together, giving the impression of a gregarious habit. In wild colonies of Bombus, this species will probably be encountered only infrequently. However, Janzen (1971) reported larvae of G. mellonella from an arboreal nest of Bombus pullatus Franklin in Costa Rica, so it is possible that A. galleriae could also be found in neotropical Bombus colonies.


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