TWO IMPORTED EGG PARASITES OF THE GIPSY MOTH, 
ANASTATUS BIFASCIATUS FONSC. AND SCHEDIUS 
KUVANAE HOWARD 1 
By S. S. Crossman 
Entomologist , Gipsy Moth and Brown-Tail Moth Investigations , Bureau of En¬ 
tomology , United States Department of Agriculture 2 
INTRODUCTION 
The State of Massachusetts, cooper¬ 
ating with the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, began in 1905 to 
introduce into the United States for¬ 
eign insect enemies of the gipsy moth 
(Porthetria dispar L.) and the brown- 
tail moth ( Euproctis chrysorrhoea L.). 
This arrangement continued through 
1911, when the Bureau of Entomology, 
United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, took over all of the parasite work. 
Among the several foreign parasites 
of the gipsy moth which have been 
established in the United States are 
two species which develop within the 
egg of the moth. These species, 
known as Anastatus bifasciatus Fonsc. 
and Schedius kuvanae How., are now 
well established and both are of con¬ 
siderable importance as enemies of the 
gipsy moth in New England. 
Schedius kuvanae is a native of 
Japan. When it was first found in 
gipsy-moth eggs received from Japan 
it was sent to L. O. Howard, who 
found it to be an undescribed species 
and genus of the Encyrtidae. Ana¬ 
status bifasciatus, also a member of the 
family Encyrtidae, has a much wider 
distribution, occurring in many parts 
of Europe, as well as in Japan. 
IMPORTATION OF ANASTATUS BI¬ 
FASCIATUS AND SCHEDIUS KU¬ 
VANAE 
The only method attempted in intro¬ 
ducing these species was to ship the 
host eggs from their native lands to the 
United States. The masses of eggs of 
the gipsy moth were received packed 
loosely in small boxes and in cloth 
bags inclosed in wooden boxes. Many 
of the egg masses from Japan arrived 
wrapped separately in rice paper and 
packed in layers between blotting 
paper. Some of the shipments came 
in cold storage, but many were sent 
as ordinary express packages or by 
mail. From 1906 until the spring of 
1910 the gipsy moth laboratory at 
Melrose Highlands, Mass., received 
many such clusters from Japan and 
from several countries in Europe. 
When the egg masses are collected 
and shipped in the fall, cold storage 
is not necessary, since Anastatus re¬ 
mains in the host egg normally about 
11 months. In the case of Schedius, 
which produces several generations 
during the fall, adults sometimes issue 
en route and parasitize some of the 
host eggs in the containers, thus 
carrying the species through to its 
destination. Later collections of egg 
clusters which have been exposed to 
low temperatures should be sent in 
cold storage, for if they are exposed to 
high temperatures the development 
of the parasites and the gipsy moth 
larvae is accelerated too much and may 
result in the issuance of the adult 
parasites and the hatching of the eggs. 
A few gipsy-moth eggs received in 
1906 from Basel, Switzerland, con¬ 
tained no parasites. In 1907 several 
small lots of egg clusters were received 
from Japan and Russia. No parasites 
were recovered from the Russian 
material, but one of the lots of eggs 
from Japan, although badly broken, 
showed evidence of parasitism. 
1 Received for publication Apr. 22, 1924; issued June, 1925. 
2 A. F. Burgess has been in direct charge of the parasite work of the gipsy moth laboratory, Bureau of 
Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, since 1912. It would be difficult to name all those asso¬ 
ciated with the laboratory who have at one time or another been connected with the work. W. F. Fiske 
and H. S. Smith, assisted by R. Wooldridge, did much of the first investigational work with these para¬ 
sites. Since then C. W. Stockwell, D. W. Jones, and J. A. Millar have greatly developed and improved 
the apparatus used in this work, and thus made it possible to handle large amounts of gipsy-moth eggs 
and parasites with a minimum amount of hand labor. The photographs illustrating this article were 
made by W. N. Dovener and C. E. Hood. 
During the entire period L. O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau, has had supervision of the work. Many 
foreign entomologists have contributed to the parasite introduction project, and without their interest and 
aid much of the work would have been impossible. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
( 643 ) 
Vol.XXX, No. 7 
Apr. 1, 1925 
Key No. K-150 
