Blastothrix Mayr 1876

Zuparko, Robert L., 2015, Annotated Checklist of California Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera), Zootaxa 4017 (1), pp. 1-126 : 14-15

Blastothrix Mayr 1876

Hosts. Hemiptera : Coccidae , Eriococcidae , Kermesidae

americana Sugonjaev 1983: 603

Type. USNM

Distribution. N (Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo)

Host/habitat. Eulecanium cerasorum , Eulecanium sp.; NEW: E. excrescens (EMEC) Remarks. As Sugonjaev (1983:146) noted, discriminating species of Blastothrix is difficult, especially when dealing with limited numbers of specimens, so the identification of all the California specimens should be regarded as tentative.

sp. nr. britannica Girault 1917d: 8

Type. USNM

Distribution. E? (Alameda, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lassen, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Napa, San Francisco, Tulare)

Host/habitat. Parthenolecanium corni

Remarks. Blastothrix britannica is a Palearctic species. A species imported from Europe and released and established in British Colombia in 1928– 29 in a biocontrol program directed against Eulecanium tiliae was initially identified as B. sericea , later misidentified as B. longipennis Howard , and ultimately confirmed as B. brittanica ( Sugonjaev 1983) . Reports of B. sericea in northern California, previously ascribed to the southward spread of this species ( Barlett 1978a: 63), may be referrable to B. brittanica or B. americana . Sugonjaev (1983) reported specimens from Berkeley as “ B. sp. aff. britannica ”, but he noted the material was too scanty and differed from the Type. Specimens near to B. britannica collected from counties along virtually the entire coast of California (CAS, CSCA, RLZC, UCDC, UCRC) may be this same taxon.

hedqvisti Sugonjaev 1964: 386

Type. ZIN

Distribution. W (Alameda, Nevada, Ventura)

Host/habitat. Eulecanium pubescens , Eulecanium sp., Parthenolecanium corni , P . fletcheri, P. pruinosum , P. quercifex

Remarks. Sugonjaev (1983) recorded this species from California, undoubtedly based on specimens in the USNM. However, in this paper is a discrepancy in the relative lengths of the postmarginal and stigmal veins—the key states the former is shorter than the latter, but this appears not to be the case in his figure 3, nor in the original description ( Sugonjaev 1964), so there may be some question if this species is truly present in the state. A specimen identified as “near hedqvisti ” by Sugonjaev was reared from Parthenolecanium corni in Los Angeles County (UCRC).

longipennis Howard 1881: 366

Type. USNM

Distribution. W (Alameda, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Monterey, Nevada, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Ventura, Yolo, Sierra Nevada)

Host/habitat. Eriococcus spurius , Eulecanium cerasorum , Nanokermes pubescens Parthenolecanium corni , P. fletcheri , P. pomeranicum , P. pruinosum , P. quercifex , P. rufulum

Remarks. This species was initially identified by Compere as the parasitoid attacking E. cerasorum in Linden (San Joaquin County) ( Michelbacher & Hitchcock 1957), but Sugonjaev (1983) has since described that parasitoid as B. americana . This suggests that any other pre-1983 report of B. longipennis from California (e.g. Timberlake’s (1924:251) record from Berkeley (Alameda County) and Struble & Bedard’s (1958) record from the Sierras) may also refer to B. americana . The latter paper also reports Coleotechnites milleri (Busck) ( Lepidoptera : Gelechiidae ) as a possible host, based on parasitoids emerging from foliage infested by the leaf miner, but it is far more likely that they instead issued from undetected scales. Another mistaken host record is Eulecanium tiliae , which was the result of a misidentification, and is properly attributable to Blastothrix britannica ( Sugonjaev 1983: 142) .

spp.

Remarks. There appears to be an undescribed species near B. longipennis from Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, and Marin counties (CSCA, RLZC), and a second species from San Bernardino County (UCRC).