Abstract
Bethylid wasps, Cephalonomia gallicola, were found parasitizing on ca. 28% of anobiid beetles, Stegobium paniceum, occurred in stored oil cakes in Nagoya in 1976. The most frequent site of the parasitism was the ventral abdominal surface of the beetle larvae. With a colony propagated in the laboratory, observed were the following habits of the wasps : 1. The wasps propagated themselves during the period from February to October. The propagation seemed to be most vigorous during July to September. 2. Female wasps oviposited more frequently on the beetle larvae in cocoons. Number of wasp larvae hatched from the cocoonless beetle larvae was ca. 1/5 of that from the larvae in the cocoons. 3. Total developmental period of time of the wasp was about 60 days in the springtime, but 20 to 30 days in the summertime. 4. Hibernated wasp females survived for 60 to 180 days, but males, having mated repeatedly in a short time after emergence, survived less than 10 days. The mating time of the wasps was ca. 2 min in an average. 5. Female wasps were observed, besides ovipositing on the beetle larvae, to kill and consume these larvae. 6. Experimentally, larvae of a ptinid beetles, Gibbium psyllioides, were parasitized by the female wasps.
