A new species of Microterys (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), parasitoid of Chaetococcus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) from India

Abstract

Microterys chaetococci Hayat and Poorani sp. nov., is described from Karnataka, India. It was reared from the mealybug Chaetococcus sp., infesting the giant clumping bamboo Dendrocalamus. Voucher material is deposited with the National Pusa Collection (NPC), Division of Entomology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi; National Bureau for Agriculturally Important Insects (NBAII), Bangalore; and Zoology Department, Aligarh Muslim University (ZDAMU), Aligarh.

Keywords:

• Encyrtidae
• Microterys
• new species
• mealybug parasitoid
• India

Acknowledgements

We thank the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, and Dr V.V. Ramamurthy, the National Coordinator of the Network Project on Insect Biosystematics, for financial assistance. M. Hayat thanks the Aligarh Muslim University and the Chairman, Department of Zoology, for facilities. J. Poorani thanks Dr Sunil Joshi for collecting the parasitoids.