Encarsia

Encarsia
Adult Encarsia perplexa with eggs and hatching nymphs of citrus blackfly.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Aphelinidae
Subfamily: Coccophaginae
Genus: Encarsia
Foerster, 1878
Species

See text

Encarsia is a large genus of minute parasitic wasps of the family Aphelinidae. The genus is very diverse with currently about 400 described species and worldwide distribution[1]. The number of existing species is expected to be several times higher because many species are still undescribed[2]. The adult wasps, tiny insects with 1-2 mm in size, are primarily parasitoids of sessile stages of Sternorrhyncha, in particular whiteflies (Aleyrodidae) and scale insects (Diaspididae). A few species are known to parasitize aphids, eggs of shield-back bugs (Plataspidae), and eggs of Lepidoptera. Females are mostly developing as primary endoparasitoids whereas males are commonly hyperparasitoids of the same or other species[3][4].

Species of Encarsia are of particular interest because of their economic importance for biological pest control, especially in horticulture and for crops grown under glass. Many seem to be extremely host-specific which is an important trait for an acceptable and effective bio-control agent.

Species used in biological control

References

  1. ^ Noyes JS. 2003. Universal Chalcidoidea database
  2. ^ a b Heraty, J.M., Polaszek, A. & Schauff, M.E. (2008) Systematics and Biology of Encarsia. Chapter 4, pp. 71-87 in: Gould, J., Hoelmer, K. & Goolsby, J. (Eds), In: Classical Biological Control of Bemisia tabaci in the United States. A review of interagency research and implementation. Progress in Biological Control 4. . Springer Science and Business Media B.V. 1-343.
  3. ^ Williams, T. and Polaszek, A. (1996) A re-examination of host relations in the Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 57: 35-45. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1996.tb01694.x
  4. ^ Hunter, M.S. and J.B. Woolley (2001) Evolution and behavioral ecology of heteronomous aphelinid parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 46: 251-290.
  5. ^ a b c d EPPO
  6. ^ Heraty, J.M., Polaszek, A. & Schauff, M.E. (2008) Systematics and Biology of Encarsia. Chapter 4, pp. 71-87 in: Gould, J., Hoelmer, K. & Goolsby, J. (Eds), In: Classical Biological Control of Bemisia tabaci in the United States. A review of interagency research and implementation. Progress in Biological Control 4. . Springer Science and Business Media B.V. 1-343.
  7. ^ Singh, S.P. (2004) Some success stories in classical biological control of pests in India. Asa-Pacifi Association of Agricultural Research Institutions, Publication 2004/2.
  8. ^ [1] MS Hoddle et al. (1998) Annual Review of Entomology Vol. 43: 645-669.
  9. ^ a b [http://www.trevorwilliams.info/williams_BST_1996.pdf Invasion and Displacement of Experimental Populations of a Conventional Parasitoid by a Heteronomous Hyperparasitoid]
  10. ^ CISR
  11. ^ Myrmecos.net
  12. ^ Nguyen Ru, Brazzel JR, Poucher C. 1983. Population density of the citrus blackfly, Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), and its parasites in urban Florida in 1979-1981. Environmental Entomology 12: 878-884.
  13. ^ University of Florida