Kiggaella

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Kiggaella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Superfamily: Chalcidoidea
Family: Eulophidae
Genus: Kiggaella
Narandran, 2005
Species: K. oryzae
Binomial name
Kiggaella oryzae
Narandran, 2005

Kiggaella is a genus of hymenopteran insects belonging to the family Eulophidae. There is currently just one described species, Kiggaella oryzae, only known from rice paddies in Karnataka and Kerala States, India.

K. oryzae has a body length of around 1.2 mm. This insect can be distinguished from similar Minotetrastichus spp by the lack of any grooves in the scutellum, wings more than three times as long as broad and one pair of cercal setae much longer than the others.

This insect is clearly a parasitoid although the host species as yet is unknown. Its association with paddy fields suggests it may parasitise a pest of rice which could give it potential as a biological control agent.

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