Bracon (wasp)

Bracon is a genus of wasps in the Braconidae, a family of parasitoid wasps. There are several hundred described species but there are thousands still undescribed. The genus is cosmopolitan, distributed throughout the world, with most of the described species occurring in the Palearctic ecozone.

These wasps are mostly ectoparasitoids, with the larvae developing on the outside of the body of the host. Recorded hosts include the larvae of many species of lepidopterans, beetles, flies, hymenopterans, and true bugs. They are idiobionts, halting the development of the host when they lay eggs on its body. Some Bracon wasps are specific to one host species, and some are known to utilize many different hosts. The eggs of the wasp can be very hardy. In one report, Bracon wasps oviposited on tortrix moth larvae, which then entered privet seeds and were consumed by birds along with the fruit. The wasp eggs were later excreted and the larvae emerged.

This large genus has been divided into several subgenera, some of which are further divided into species-groups. A DNA analysis showed that the genus is paraphyletic, that its subgenera and other defined groups are not all valid on a molecular basis, and that revising it into informal groups would be more practical. Other authors still divide the genus into subgenera using morphological characters to make identification easier.

Most of the thousands of species that fit into this genus have not yet been described, but even the number of named species is unclear, with estimates ranging from 500 to 1000.

Species include: