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Title: Two new species of Oobius Trjapitzin (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) egg parasitoids of Agrilus spp. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the USA, including a key and taxonomic notes on other congeneric Nearctic taxa

Author
item TRIAPITSYN, S. - University Of California
item PETRICE, T. - Forest Service (FS)
item Gates, Michael
item BAUER, LEAH - Forest Service (FS)

Submitted to: ZooKeys
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2015
Publication Date: 4/21/2015
Publication URL: http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=5143
Citation: Triapitsyn, S., Petrice, T., Gates, M.W., Bauer, L.S. 2015. Two new species of Oobius Trjapitzin (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) egg parasitoids of Agrilus spp. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) from the USA, including a key and taxonomic notes on other congeneric Nearctic taxa. ZooKeys. 498:29-50.

Interpretive Summary: The emerald ash borer, a massively destructive invasive beetle from China, is responsible for the destruction of hundreds of millions of ash trees in the USA. Parasitic wasps that attacking this beetle have been discovered and imported from the beetle’s native range and released in the US to provide biological control of this beetle. One of these is an egg parasite that can reduce populations of the devastating beetle. This wasp is compared with new native US species in the same genus recently discovered in the US to enable workers to reliably separate the different species from one another. This work will be used by scientists, foresters, ecologists involved in biological control of the emerald ash borer in the US.

Technical Abstract: Oobius Trjapitzin (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae) species are egg parasitoids that are important for the biological control of some Buprestidae and Cerambycidae (Coleoptera); two species were introduced into North America for classical biocontrol and have successfully established. Two new native North American species that parasitize eggs of Agrilus spp. (Buprestidae) are described and illustrated from the USA: O. subcincti Triapitsyn & Petrice sp. n. (Michigan), an egg parasitoid of both A. subcinctus Gory on ash (Fraxinus spp.) and A. egenus Gory on black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) trees, and O. whiteorum Triapitsyn sp. n. (Pennsylvania), an egg parasitoid of A. anxius Gory on European white birch (Betula pendula Roth). A taxonomic key and notes on the Nearctic native and introduced Oobius species are also included.