Encarsia hera Lahey & Andreason (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae): a charismatic new parasitoid of Aleurocybotus Quaintance & Baker (Hemiptera, Aleyrodidae) from Florida

By

Lahey, Zachary
Simmons, Alvin
Andreason, Sharon

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2022

Original Publication

MycoKeys

Volume

94

Pages

89--104

Subjects

DNA , new species , phylogenetics , whitefly

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2011-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.94.94677

 

Abstract

A new, biparental species of the genus Encarsia Förster (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), E. hera Lahey & Andreason, sp. nov., is characterized based on morphological and molecular data. The parasitoid was reared from the puparia of its host, an undescribed species of the grass-feeding aleyrodine genus Aleurocybotus Quaintance & Baker (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) collected in Gainesville, Florida. The same whitefly is newly recorded from Charleston, South Carolina, where it is a pest of ornamental Muhly grass [Muhlenbergia capillaris (Lam.) Trin. (Poaceae)]. A phylogenetic analysis based on a fragment of 28S ribosomal DNA in 34 Encarsia species placed E. hera, sp. nov., within the E. luteola-group, a result concordant with its morphology. A key to the Encarsia species reared from Aleurocybotus is provided.