Biological Control of Insect Pests: Southeast Asian Prospects - EcoPort

4.4 Aphis gossypii 75
Ephedrus plagiator Hym.: Aphidiidae
This aphid is native to the far eastern deciduous forests and steppes of the
Palearctic region and is widely distributed in India. It has many hosts
amongst species of Aphis and Myzus (Starù 1967a).
Lipolexis gracilis Hym.: Aphidiidae
This is a European or Far Eastern species with hosts in a number of aphid
genera, including Aphis (Starù 1967a).
Lipolexis scutellaris Hym.: Aphidiidae
This is an oriental species (Raychaudhuri 1990) and is known from southern
China, Japan and Taiwan and also from India, Pakistan and Tonga. It has a
wide host range and an apparent preference for Aphis species (Carver et al.
1993).
Lysiphlebia japonica Hym.: Aphidiidae
This is native to the Far East and is probably a well-adapted species for
tropical climates. It typically occurs in forest or open woodland
environments on many species in the genus Aphis in addition to those in a
number of other related aphid genera (Starù 1967b).
Lysiphlebia mirzai Hym.: Aphidiidae
This species was described from India and is known also from Vietnam and
China.
Lysiphlebus fabarum Hym.: Aphidiidae
(= Lysiphlebus confusus, L. ambiguus)
This is a Palaearctic species (Europe, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Central Asia),
which is now widespread and occurs also in Israel, a number of African
countries and USA. It is the most abundant parasitoid of the black citrus
aphid Toxoptera aurantii in Italy (Starù 1964) and Israel (Rosen 1967a,b). In
some countries it is biparental but, in Israel, only females are known (Rosen
1967a,b). It is recommended by Starù (1967b) as a species useful for
biological control. L. fabarum is both biparental and parthenogenetic
(Carver 1984) and 15 to 16 generations a year have been recorded in Italy
(Tremblay 1964). It has a very extensive host range, with records from at
least 144 species of aphids in 36 genera, 81 (56%) of these species belonging
to the genus Aphis (Carver 1984).
There is little doubt that L. fabarum refers to a complex of closely related
sibling species or at least of host-specific biotypes. For example, in the
laboratory L. fabarum bred from Aphis species readily parasitised other
Aphis species, but not Brachycaudus sp.. However, in the field, colonies of
Brachycaudus cardui heavily parasitised by L. fabarum shared the same
host plants as unparasitised Aphis fabae (Mackauer 1962a). The influence of