Microgaster messoria Haliday, 1834

Mifsud, David, Farrugia, Lucia & Shaw, Mark R., 2019, Braconid and ichneumonid (Hymenoptera) parasitoid wasps of Lepidoptera from the Maltese Islands, Zootaxa 4567 (1), pp. 47-60 : 57

Microgaster messoria Haliday, 1834

Material examined: MALTA, Il-Fawwara limits of Għajn Tuffieħa, 29. iii.2006, 1 ♀, emerged from Avaria hyerana ( Lepidoptera : Tortricidae ), MZ, NMS; Mgarr, 15. xii.2013, 1 ♂ & 2♀♀, from Cydia amplana , MZ, DMC, NMS [parasitoids identified by Mark Shaw; hosts identified by Michael Zerafa].

Notes: This is a solitary koinobionnt endoparasitoid of Lepidoptera larvae including Tortricidae , Gracillaridae and Crambidae among others ( Vance, 1932; Yu et al., 2012; Shaw, 2012). The M. messoria larva undergoes three instars in which it feeds on the host internally. It then emerges from the host and feeds on it externally during its final instar prior to constructing its cocoon ( Vance, 1932, as M. tibialis ).