Encarsia formosa Gahan, 1924

Schmidt, Stefan & Polaszek, Andrew, 2007, The Australian species of Encarsia Förster (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea: Aphelinidae), parasitoids of whiteflies (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Aleyrodidae) and armoured scale insects (Hemiptera, Coccoidea: Diaspididae), Journal of Natural History 41 (33 - 36), pp. 2099-2265 : 2165-2167

36. Encarsia formosa Gahan

( Figures 119–121 )

Encarsia formosa Gahan 1924, p 14 . Syntypes, USA: Idaho, Twin Falls (USNM, examined). Encarsia formosa Gahan : Ferrière 1965, p 137; Nikol’skaya and Yasnosh 1966, p 266; Viggiani and Mazzone 1979, p 45; Huldén 1986, p 18; Rivnay and Gerling 1987, p 465; Viggiani 1987b, p 144; Liao et al. 1987, p 151; Jiang and Petzold 1988, p 494; Yasnosh 1989, p 110; Polaszek et al. 1992, p 382; Viggiani and Ren 1993, p 226; Liu and Stansly 1996, p 386; Huang and Polaszek 1998, p 1881; Polaszek et al. 1999, p 146; Schmidt et al. 2001, p 377.

Diagnosis

Female. Colour: head and mesosoma brown, contrasting with yellow remainder of body. Antenna yellow with petiole and antennal tip slightly darker. Metasoma yellow except brown at base. Fore wing hyaline. Legs pale, coxae more or less brown at base.

Morphology: stemmaticum with reticulate surface sculpture. Antennal formula 1,1,4,2. Pedicel longer than F1 (1.09–1.32). F1 2.40 times as long as its maximum width, distinctly shorter than F2 (0.69–0.86) and F3 (0.66–0.83). F2 and F3 subequal in length or F2 slightly shorter than F3. Flagellomeres with the following numbers of sensilla: F1: 0, F2: 1, F3: 2, F4: 2–3, F5: 2–3, F6: 3. Midlobe of mesoscutum with 18– 20 setae, side lobes with three setae each. Scutellar sensilla widely separated (approximately seven times the maximum width of a sensillum). Distance between anterior pair of scutellar setae subequal to distance between posterior pair. Fore wing about 2.4 times as long as width of disc. Marginal fringe 0.25–0.33 times as long as width of disc. Submarginal vein with two setae, marginal vein anteriorly with eight setae. Tarsal formula 5-4-5. Apical spur of midtibia shorter than half the length of the corresponding basitarsus (0.30–0.40). Tergites laterally with the following numbers of setae: T1: 0, T2: 1, T3: 1, T4: 1, T5: 2, T6: 2, T7 with four setae. Ovipositor slightly shorter than or subequal in length to midtibia (0.88–1.00). Third valvula 0.41–0.66 times as long as second valvifer.

Male. Body predominantly brown, legs lighter. Lower half of head, vertex partly and ocellar area brown.

Species group placement. E. luteola group ( Gahan 1924; Polaszek et al. 1992). Distribution. Australia: Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia. Pacific Islands : Tonga, Fiji, French Polynesia. Cosmopolitan .

Host. Aleyrodidae : Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) , Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) . The following additional hosts have been recorded ( Huang and Polaszek 1998): Aleuroglandulus malangae Russell , Aleurotrachelus trachoides (Back) , Aleyrodes lonicerae Walker , A. proletella (Linnaeus) , A. spiraeoides Quaintance , Dialeurodes chittendeni Laing , D. citri (Ashmead) .

Material examined

Australian Capital Territory: Wombat Creek, 6 km E Piccadilly Circus (35 ° 199S, 148 ° 519E), March 1985 (Lawrence, Weir, Johnson) (ANIC). New South Wales: 1♀, Griffith, 8 January 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Sonchus oleraceus L. ( Asteraceae ) (ANIC); 1♀, Lake Tandou, 6 January 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Xanthium occidentale Bertol. (Asteraceae) (ANIC). Queensland: 1♀ Warra, 25 June 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Verbena bonariensis L. ( Verbenaceae ) (ANIC); 1♀, Dalby, 3 May 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Bemisia tabaci on Gossypium hirsutum L. ( Malvaceae ) (ANIC); 1♀, Dalby, 17 May 1997 (D. R. Lea), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Sonchus oleraceus (ANIC) ; 2♀, Oakey, 3 April 1997 (B. A. Franzmann), ex Bemisia tabaci on Sonchus oleraceus and Amaranthus spinosus L. (Cheno-podia-ceae) (ANIC); 1♀, Oakey, 20 March 1997 (B. A. Franzmann), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Anoda cristata (L.) Schltdl. ( Malvaceae ) (ANIC); 2♀, Oakey, 13 May 1997 (D. R. Lea), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Verbena bonariensis and Sonchus oleraceus (ANIC) ; 4♀, Oakey, 29 May 1997 (D. R. Lea), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Sonchus oleraceus , Malvastrum coromandelianum (L.) Garcke ( Malvaceae ), Urtica sp. (Urtica-ceae), and Datura sp. (Solanaceae) (ANIC); 1♀, 1 „, Oakey, 29 May 1997 (D. R. Lea), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Verbena bonariensis (ANIC) ; 3♀, Oakey, 25 June 1997 (D. R. Lea), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Sonchus oleraceus , Verbena bonariensis , and Urtica sp. (ANIC); 1♀, 1 „, Highfields, 10 March 1996 (B. A. Franzmann), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Verbena sp. (ANIC); 3♀, 1 „, Brisbane, 17 April 2000 (P. De Barro), ex Bemisia tabaci on Hibiscus sp. (Malvaceae) (ZSMG). South Australia: 2♀, McLaren Vale, 2 January 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Euphorbia peplus L. ( Euphorbiaceae ) (ANIC); 3♀, 1 „, Cavan, 2 January 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Sonchus oleraceus (ANIC) . Victoria: 1♀, Red Cliffs, 2 January 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Sonchus oleraceus (ANIC) ; 2♀, Red Cliffs, 2 January 1997 (P. De Barro), ex Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Euphorbia peplus (ANIC) . Western Australia: 3♀, 1 „, Wanneroo, Boogards Nursery, 1 October 1996 (P. De Barro), ex Bemisia tabaci on Hibiscus sp. (Malvaceae) (ANIC).

Comments

Encarsia formosa was released into Australia between 1934 and 1936 as a biological control agent of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum ( Wilson 1960) . Males are rare in this species.

Figures

Figures 119–121. Encarsia formosa Gahan, female. (119) Mesosoma and gaster. (120) Antenna. (121) Fore wing.