Encarsia

Encarsia
Adult Encarsia perplexa with eggs and hatching nymphs of citrus blackfly
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
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] Encarsia is a very complex genus, with specimens showing both inter- and intra-specific variations, making morphological classification difficult.[3]

The adult wasps, tiny insects about 1 or 2 millimeters 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 mostly develop as primary endoparasitoids, and males are commonly hyperparasitoids of the same or other species. This so-called heteronomy, a sexually dimorphic host relationship, occurs in quite a few species.[4][5]

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.

  1. ^ Noyes, J. S. 2003. Universal Chalcidoidea database
  2. ^ Heraty, J. M., et al. (2008) Systematics and Biology of Encarsia. Chapter 4, pp. 71-87 In: Gould, J., et al. (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. ^ Hayat, Mohammad (1989). "A revision of the species of Encarsia Foerster (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) from India and adjacent countries" (PDF). Oriental Insects. 23: 1–131. doi:10.1080/00305316.1989.11835501. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2013.
  4. ^ Williams, T. and A. Polaszek. (1996). A re-examination of host relations in the Aphelinidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 57: 35-45. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1996.tb01694.x
  5. ^ Hunter, M. S. and J. B. Woolley. (2001). Evolution and behavioral ecology of heteronomous aphelinid parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 46, 251-90.