UNDISCOVERED DIVERSITY OF DIPTERAN PARASITOIDS INFECTING MONGOLIAN ORTHOPTERANS

Diversity of parasitoids species remains questioning in several ecosystems poorly surveyed. The present study is focused on dipteran parasitoids species infecting orthopteran in forest-steppe ecosystem of Mongolia. Among a total of 420 hosts from four species, 20 were found to be infected and 200 larvae of dipteran parasitoids recovered. Genetic studies on a subset of larvae shows the presence of up to seven taxa whose none is represented in databases (although 13 species were previously reported in Mongolia), indicating a large and unexplored diversity of dipteran parasitoid in Mongolia. Further studies will be focused in establishing of this diversity and the determination of the species.