Myosoma

Distinguished from other braconid genera by morphological features detailed in species descriptions; M. nyanzaensis specifically distinguished from M. chinensis by diagnostic characters described in the original description (exact features not specified in available abstract).

Agricultural environments with host plants; M. nyanzaensis has been reared from maize and sorghum fields in Kenya.

Old World; M. chinensis occurs in Asia, M. nyanzaensis described from Kenya representing the first Afrotropical record for the genus.

• Chilo partellus - parasitoidgregarious ectoparasitoid of larvae; reared from maize and sorghum in Kenya

Gregarious ectoparasitoid of lepidopteran larvae; multiple individuals develop externally on a single host larva.

Gregarious ectoparasitoid development on host larvae.

Biological control agent of agricultural pest species, specifically stem-borer moths in cereal crops.

Potential biocontrol agent for management of Chilo partellus, a significant pest of maize and sorghum in Africa.

• BraconM. chinensis was originally described as Bracon chinensis before transfer to Myosoma; indicates historical taxonomic proximity and potential morphological similarity requiring careful distinction.

The name Myosoma has been used for an entoproct genus (Myopedicellina, formerly Myosoma spinosa Robertson, 1900), but this is a junior homonym; the valid use of Myosoma applies only to the braconid wasp genus described by Brullé in 1846.

• parasitoid
• ectoparasitoid
• gregarious
• agricultural pest control
• Afrotropical
• Braconidae

• BugGuide
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Catalogue of Life
• Myopedicellina, a replacement name for Myosoma Robertson (Entoprocta: Pedicellinidae)
• Myosoma nyanzaensis sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitic on the stem-borer pest Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Kenya