Psilochalcis Kieffer, 1905

The genus Psilochalcis, with 55 species, is well represented in the Palaearctic region. The hosts are known only for a few species, e.g. the Nearctic Psilochalcis described by Grissell & Schauff (1981) were reared respectively from the lepidopterans Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) (Crambidae) and Stegasta bosqueella (Chambers) (Gelechiidae) . The data relative to the Old World species concern P. ceratoniae, a parasitoid of Apomyelois ceratoniae [= Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller, 1839)] ( Pyralidae) in Iran, P. soudanensis (Steffan) which attacks cereal stem borers mainly of the family Crambidae in the Afrotropics (Steffan 1951c; Polaszek et al. 1994), P. capensis (Steffan) a parasitoid of Epascestria [= Loxostege] frustalis (Zeller) ( Crambidae) (Steffan 1956) sometimes through Braconidae or Tachinidae (Prinsloo 1980) and P. ghanii (Habu) a parasitoid of Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Crambidae) in the Oriental Region.