About

The hymenopteran species in West African rice fields includes the ants and wasps. The ants are soil pests, and the wasps are parasitoids. Ants are most prevalent in upland environments where they store, below the ground, rice seeds removed from the rice field. The result is a loss in plant stand. A key character in the Hymenoptera is the ‘pedicel’. The pedicel is the thin structure that connects the thorax and abdomen. The pedicel is most visible in the Hymenoptera as the pedicel is often quite long and gives Hymenoptera their distinctive thin 'waist’. The ants are distinguished from the wasps by the abdomen connected to thorax with a dorsal node (pedicel). The wasps are both parasitic on insect eggs and larvae. The fore and hind hymenopteran wings are both membranous (hymen) and have key characters used in the identification of species.