Report of Psyllaephagus procerus Mercet (Hym.: Encyrtidae) as parasitoid of the Diaphorina citri (Hem.: Psyllidae) from Iran (short report)

The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is one of the most important pests of citrus in Iran, through transmitting Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus the bacterial pathogenic agent of important and destructive disease known as huanglongbing (HLB) or greening. Several samplings were carried out in infected orchards of sweet lemon trees Citrus limetta (Rutaceae) in May 2011 and 2012 at Koshkmor, Jiroft region of Kerman province (N= 28° 19' 54.32", E= 58° 14' 46.17", 549 m a.s.l.) to collect and identify the dominant parasitoid species for subsequent ethological studies. The reared parasitoid specimens were identified by the fourth author (HL) as Psyllaephagus procerus Mercet, 1921 (Hym.: Encyrtidae), that is a new report from Iran 1, 2). This species is a synonym of Metaprionomitus procerus Mercet, 1921 (3). So far species P. pistaciae Ferrière, P. stenopsyllae (Tachikawa) and P. zdeneki Noyes & Fallahzadeh, have been reported from Iran (1). Body length in females 1.3 mm and in males 1.1 mm; scape 4 to 5 times as long asfunicle segments combined; 1st-4th funicular segments longer than broad, 4th and 5th funicular segments quadrate. Legs at least in part darkened (at least coxae of one pair of legs or hind femur are darkened); mid and hind tibiae darkened; marginal vein punctiform or little longer than broad and not less than 2.5 times shorter than stigmal vein; scutellum green or blue green; gaster not longer or only slightly longer than thorax (4). Fraxinus sp. (Planta: Oleaceae) and Pyrus communis (Planta: Rosaceae) have been reported as host plant for this encyrtid (3). This study let us to add Citrus limetta (Rutaceae) as a new associated host plant for P. procerus. This species is a nymphal parasitoid of Hemiptera. Hosts reported include: Eulecanium ciliatum (Hem.: Coccidae)and Cacopsylla sp., Cacopsylla pyri and Psyllopsis fraxini(Hem.: Psyllidae) (3). This parasitoid has been reported from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine (3). The specimens were deposited in the collection of Department of Entomology, Vali-e AsrUniversity of Rafsanjan and East-AzarbaijanResearchCenter for Agriculture and Natural Resources.