Pests > Pest Management > Biological control > Bioagents – insects > Chalcidoidea, pink hibiscus mealybug, Solomon Is



Pests > Pest Management > Biological control > Bioagents – insects > Chalcidoidea, pink hibiscus mealybug, Solomon Is

Pests Pest Management Biological control Bioagents – insects Chalcidoidea, pink hibiscus mealybug, Solomon Is

Chalcidoidea, pink mealybug

October 2006. Parasitoid wasps were bred from pink hibiscus mealybugs, Maconellicoccus hirsutus, pests of Abelmoschus manihot from Solomon Islands.

It is very hard to tell accurately a species name for Chalcidoidea Hymenoptera without slide mounting the specimen. However, tentatively the slide (top, left) is a female Encyrtidae, probably Anagyrus kamali Moursi, and the slide (top, right) is a male specimen, most likely of the same species (generally males are not used for identification). The third slide (bottom, left) displays another Encyrtidae of the genus Homalotylus. It is not a parasitoid of Pink hibiscus mealybug, but it parasitizes Coccinellids larvae that are predators of the mealybug.