Antennal structures used in communication by egg parasitoids

Egg parasitoids are considered the most effective biocontrol agents of crop pests among parasitic wasps, since they are able to remove the herbivore from the agroecosystem before larval eclosion. The use of arthropod eggs as hosts by parasitoids has evolved in the Hymenoptera at least in 14 families. Of these, only Trichogrammatidae, Scelionidae and Mymaridae are composed entirely by species with this life style. These egg parasitoids are associated with hosts belonging to 15 insect Orders. The huge number of host-parasitoid associations generated by the common target, the host egg, and the varieties of taxonomic entities, thousand host species, produce a great diversity which can be evaluated and measured in different ways. The antennae are posed here due to their importance in taxonomy and parasitoid behavior, such as habitat location, sex recognition and reproductive isolation, host recognition, interand intra-specific marking discrimination.