Diversinervus Silvestri 1915

Zuparko, Robert L., 2015, Annotated Checklist of California Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera), Zootaxa 4017 (1), pp. 1-126 : 26-27

Diversinervus Silvestri 1915

Hosts. Hemiptera : Coccidae

elegans Silvestri 1915: 304

Type. DEZA

Distribution. E (Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura )

Host/habitat. Ceroplastes brevicauda , C. destructor , C. floridensis , C. rusci , C. sp., Coccus hesperidum , C. pseudomagnoliarum , Drepanococcus chiton , Eulecanium kunoense , Gascardia sp., Inglisia sp., Marsipococcus proteae , Parasaissetia nigra , Parthenolecanium corni , Pulvinaria floccifera , P. psidii , P. urbicola , Saissetia coffeae , S. oleae , S. persimilis , S. sp.

Remarks. The first effort to import this species (in a Saissetia oleae biocontrol program) into California was in 1931, but the stock perished in transit ( Compere 1931). Successive importations (from Eritrea in 1953 and Lebanon in the mid-1960s) proved more successful, and it was released throughout the state ( Lampson & Morse 1992). Initially, this species was recovered wherever S. oleae occurred in southern California ( Bartlett & Medved 1966), but later studies found it only established in the coastal region of southern California ( Kennett 1986; Lampson & Morse 1992), possibly as a result of being outcompeted by other imported natural enemies. Lampson and Morse (1992) suggested that D. elegans can act as a hyperparasitoid, but the detailed studies of Bartlett & Medved (1966) found no evidence of such (although second instar larvae will engage in combat to reduce the number of supernumeraries). Specimens from UCRC are recorded from Aonidiella aurantii , but I suspect these are misidentified.