Aelia furcula Fieber, 1868

Aelia furcula Fieber, 1868: 472; Aelia simillima Reuter, 1900: 233 .

Distribution in Iran. Alborz (Hoberlandt 1997), East Azarbaijan (Brown 1962, 1966; Modarres Awal 1997b; Havaskary et al. 2012), Fars (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Brown 1962, 1966; Wagner 1968; Hoberlandt 1997; Safavi 1959; Linnavuori 2012), Golestan (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Modarres Awal 1997b), Hamadan (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Brown 1962, 1966; Wagner 1968; Hoberlandt 1997; Modarres Awal 1997b), Isfahan (Farahbakhsh 1961; Modarres Awal 1997b; Samin & Asgari 2012), Kermanshah (Farahbakhsh 1961; Brown 1966; Safavi 1959; Modarres Awal 1997b), Khorasan (Safavi 1959; Modarres Awal 1997b), Kordestan (Wagner 1961, 1968; Brown 1962, 1968; Hoberlandt 1997), Lorestan, Mazandaran (Modarres Awal 1997b), Markazi (Modarres Awal 1997b), Qazvin (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Brown 1962, 1966), Tehran (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Brown 1962, 1966; Hoberlandt 1997; Modarres Awal 1997b; Linnavuori 2008), West Azarbaijan (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Modarres Awal 1997b), Zanjan (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Brown 1962, 1966; Modarres Awal 1997b), Iran (no locality cited) (Derjanschi & Péricart 2005; Khanjani 2006; Rider 2006).

General distribution. Ponto-Mediterranean and Central Asia: Greece, Turkey, European Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan (Derjanschi & Péricart 2005); Cyprus (P. Moulet, unpublished data).

Host plants. On Poaceae (Safavi 1959; Farahbakhsh 1961; Modarres Awal 1997b), wheat (Farahbakhsh 1961; Modarres Awal 1997b; Khanjani 2006), barley (Farahbakhsh 1961; Modarres Awal 1997b), brome chess, Agropyron caespitosum, Bromus tectorum var. hirsutus, Eremopyrum bonapartis var. s ublanuginosum, Heteranthelium pitiferum, Hordeum spontaneum (all Poaceae), Helichrysum oligocephalum ( Asteraceae) (Modarres Awal 1997b) and Agropyrum pectiniforme, Alopecurus arundinaceus, Arrhenatherum kotschyi, Boisseria squarrosa, Bromus lanceolatus, B. danthoniae, Eremopoa persica Hordeum violaceum, Poa bulbosa, Melica jacquemonti, Pucinellia bulbosa (all Poaceae) (Derjanschi & Péricart 2005). Aelia furcula is a pest of cereals but, in Iran, eggs are destroyed by several Hymenoptera (families Selionidae and Encyrtidae), and also the nymphs are parasitized by Diptera ( Tachinidae: Phasiinae) (Radjabi 1998; Samin 2010).