Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Suborder Apocrita Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Hymenoptera Superfamily Chalcidoidea | |
Similar Megastigmus, Torymidae, Chalcid wasp | ||
Megastigmus atedius (spruce seed chalcid) is a species of minute wasp that feeds on white spruce seed and cones. The damage it causes is largely undetected because the larvae complete their development hidden inside the seeds, which reveal no external indication of this. Although species of Megastigmus are said to be host-specific, the spruce seed chalcid found near Fairbanks, Alaska, was identified by E.H. Holsten and others in 1980 as M. piceae, while A.H. Rose and O.H. Lindquist applied the name Megastigmus piceae, but gave the authority as Rohwer.
Other seed and cone insects
In the Prairie Provinces, the spruce cone maggot (Delia anthracina Czerny), which Rose and Lindquist designated as Hylemya anthracina (Czerny), attacks cones of white, Engelmann, and black spruces, and in some years may destroy the entire seed crop. The spruce cone-axis midge (Dasineura rachiphaga) and cone maggots (Pegohylemia) were also found to be damaging white spruce cones and seed near Fairbanks.