Psyllaephagus

Psyllaephagus
Female P. cornwallensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Encyrtidae
Subfamily: Encyrtinae
Genus: Psyllaephagus
Ashmead, 1900
Type species
Encyrtus pachypsllae
Howard, 1885
Synonyms
  • Anagyropsis Girault, 1917
  • Anisodromus Riek, 1962
  • Calluniphilus Erdős, 1961
  • Calocerineloides Girault, 1913
  • Epanagyrus Girault, 1915
  • Kaszabicyrtus Szelènyi [hu], 1971
  • Mercetia Bakkendorf, 1965
  • Metaprionomitus Mercet, 1921
  • Mirocerus Ashmead, 1904
  • Neanagyrus Girault, 1915
  • Ooencyrtus (Ooencyrtoides) Hoffer, 1963
  • Propsyllaephagus Ev. Blanchard in De Santis, 1964
  • Psyllencyrtus Tachikawa, 1955
  • Shakespearia Girault, 1928

Psyllaephagus is a genus of chalcid wasps. It was named and circumscribed by William Harris Ashmead in 1900. As of 2019, Psyllaephagus contains approximately 245 species. They are found worldwide: Australia has 100 described species; the Palaearctic region has about 57 species, India has about 20, and Africa about 30.

Description

Female

Body length 0.8–3.0 mm, usually between 1.2 and 2.0 mm; usually metallic green or blue-green in colour; mandible usually with two teeth and a large straight dorsal truncation; Antenna 11-segmented; funicle 6-segmented; clava often 3-segmented; fore-wing fully developed, often hyaline, rarely with a smoky spot under marginal vein and stigmal vein; marginal vein usually punctiform (submarginal vein only meeting margin at the point where stigmal vein branches) or slightly longer than wide; marginal and postmarginal veins are both usually shorter than stigmal vein; mesopleuron in side view clearly separated from base of metasoma by propodeum; mid-tibia spur usually shorter than basitarsus; hypopygium very rarely reaching apex of metasoma; ovipositor usually hidden, but may be slightly to strongly exserted at gastral apex.

Male

Similar to female except for antennae and genitalia: the funicle varies from whiplike with long setae to flattened with short setae; clava entire.

Biology and biological control

Most of the Psyllaephagus species are primary parasitoids of psylloids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea). Three species from Australia have been successfully utilized for biological control of psylloids: Psyllaephagus pilosus was introduced and released in California and European countries for the purpose of controlling Ctenarytaina eucalypti; Psyllaephagus bliteus was introduced and released in California to regulate Glycaspis brimblecombei; and Psyllaephagus yaseeni was introduced into Hawaii and south-east Asia in order to manage Heteropsylla cubana.

References

  1. 1 2 Ashmead, William H. (1900). "On the Genera of Chalcid-flies belonging to the Subfamily Encyrtina" (PDF). Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 22 (1202): 382–383. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.22-1202.323. BHL page 32021125.
  2. ↑ Trjapitzin, V. A. (2012). "Characteristics of the genus Psyllaephagus Ashmead, 1900 with description of a new species from Moscow Province (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae)". Entomological Review. 92 (8): 907–912. doi:10.1134/S001387381208009X. S2CID 255270030.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Noyes, J. S. (2019). "Psyllaephagus". Universal Chalcidoidea Database: Synonymic list. The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  4. ↑ Girault, A. A. (1917). "New Australian Chalcid-flies (Hymenoptera Chalcididae)". Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus. 5: 136.
  5. ↑ Riek, E. F. (1962). "A new encyrtid (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) genus of parasites of lerp-forming psyllids on Eucalyptus". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 87 (3): 283.
  6. ↑ Erdős, J. (1961). "Symbola ad cognitionen faunae encyrtidarum et aphelindarum Hungariae". Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 7: 413–416. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 November 2017.
  7. ↑ Girault, A. A. (1913). "New Genera and Species of Chalcidoid Hymenoptera in the South Australia Museum". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 37: 111.
  8. 1 2 Girault, A. A. (1915). "Australian Hymenoptera Chalcidoidea—VII. The family Encyrtidae with Descriptions of New Genera and Species". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 4: 160, 174.
  9. ↑ Mercet, Ricardo García (1921). Fauna Ibérica: Himenópteros Fam. Encírtidos. Madrid: Museo Nacional de Ciencas Naturales. pp. 260–269.
  10. ↑ Ashmead, William Harris (1904). "Classification of the Chalcid Flies of the Superfamily Chalcidoidea, with Descriptions of New Species in the Carnegie Museum, Collected in South America by Herbert H. Smith". Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum. 1 (4): 309.
  11. ↑ Girault, A. A. (1928). Some new hexapods stolen from authority (PDF). Brisbane.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. 1 2 3 Zou, Boyu; Hu, Hongying; Zhang, Lanwei; Zhang, Yanzhou (2023). "A taxonomic study of Psyllaephagus Ashmead (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae) from China". ZooKeys (1184): 327–359. Bibcode:2023ZooK.1184..327Z. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1184.109476. ISSN 1313-2989. PMC 10690798. PMID 38045106. This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  13. ↑ Prinsloo, G. L. (1981). On the encyrtid parasites (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) associated with psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) in southern Africa. Journal of the Entomological Society of southern Africa, 44(2), 199-244.