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Title: A new species of genus Oobius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from the Russian Far East that parasitizes eggs of Emerald Ash Borer

Author
item YAO, YAN-XIA - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item DUAN, JIAN - Newark Department Of Health
item Hopper, Keith
item Mottern, Jason
item Gates, Michael

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/25/2016
Publication Date: 5/3/2016
Citation: Yao, Y., Duan, J.J., Hopper, K.R., Mottern, J.L., Gates, M.W. 2016. A new species of genus Oobius (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from the Russian Far East that parasitizes eggs of Emerald Ash Borer. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 1-10: doi: 10.1093/aesa/saw022.

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 similar 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: A new egg parasitoid of the emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is described from the Vladivostok, Russia, Oobius primorskyensis Yao & Duan n. sp. Both morphological characters and analysis of DNA sequence divergence suggest that this species is different from the previously described emerald ash borer egg parasitoid O. agrili Zhang & Huang from China. Diagnosis of the new species with comparisons to similar Palearctic species, particularly O. agrili, is provided along with a key to the species of Oobius with 4-segmented tarsi. The new species is another natural enemy of A. planipennis in its native range and may be considered as an agent for biological control introduction against A. planipennis in North America.