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Abstract
Melittobia australica Girault is a new record for New Zealand and from Vespula spp. In the Wellington district, M. australica was found in an embryo colony of the German wasp Vespula germanica (Fabricius) and in pupae of the mason wasp Pison spinolae Shuckard in 1980 and 1981 respectively. Melittobia was recorded in nests of P. morosum Smith in Canterbury, New Zealand in 1976 and 1977. The original sources of M. australica were considered.
The validity of the earliest record of Melittobia in a social wasp host is reconsidered. It is concluded Melittobia has been underated as a parasite of social wasps.
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