Tri-trophic-interactions
Guides
Hippodamia convergens
Convergent Lady Beetle, Convergent Ladybug
The convergent lady beetle is among the most common lady beetles in North America, recognized by the distinctive white converging lines on its pronotum. It is a voracious predator of aphids and other soft-bodied insects, with both larvae and adults actively hunting prey. The species exhibits complex life history traits including facultative reproductive diapause triggered by food scarcity, mass aggregations for overwintering in western mountain valleys, and long-distance migratory behavior. It is one of the few natural enemies commercially collected from wild aggregations for biological control distribution, though released beetles often disperse rapidly from release sites.
Rhyssa
Rhyssa is a genus of large ichneumon wasps in the subfamily Rhyssinae, characterized by exceptionally long ovipositors used to parasitize wood-boring larvae. The genus name derives from Greek meaning "wrinkled." Species in this genus are parasitoids of siricid woodwasps and related wood-boring insects, with females drilling through timber to locate and oviposit on hosts concealed deep within wood. They are distributed across Europe, North Africa, the Near East, North America, the Indomalayan realm, and Australia.