Metaphycus flavus (parasitoid)
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Metaphycus flavus (parasitoid) (Howard, 1881)
This wasp is widely distributed in subtropical regions. It is an endoparasitoid of soft scales and has been introduced into several countries, for example in the 1950s into North America from the Mediterranean region against the nigra scale (Parasaissetia nigra) as well as the black scale (Saissetia oleae) (Bartlett et al., 1978). Coccus species like Coccus hesperidum are also often parasitised. M. flavus is commercially available in some countries.
Females feed on the hemolymph of scales after stinging them. The number of eggs deposited by the female depends on the size of the host scale and varies from 1 to 10 (facultatively gregarious).
