Systematic Entomology (2007) 32, 81-94

Stefan Schmidt and Andrew Polaszek (2007)
Encarsia or Encarsiella? - redefining generic limits based on morphological and molecular evidence (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae)
Systematic Entomology 32 (1), 81-94
Abstract: The genus Encarsiella (syn.n.) (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Aphelinidae) is synonymized with Encarsia on the basis of molecular and morphological characters. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted of the D2 expansion region of the 28S ribosomal DNA including thirty-eight Encarsia species. Our phylogenetic analysis revealed a polyphyletic origin of Encarsiella and confirmed the results of earlier analyses indicating the paraphyly of Encarsia. Four species are described as new (Encarsia bifasciata sp.n., E. caelata sp.n., E. obliqua sp.n. and E. pilosa sp.n.). The following species are transferred from Encarsiella to Encarsia: Encarsia aleurodici (Girault, 1916) comb.n., E. amabilis (Huang and Polaszek, 1998) comb.n., E. boswelli (Girault, 1915) comb.n., E. magniclava (Girault, 1915) comb.n., E. narroi Gómez and García comb.n., E. nepalensis (Polaszek and Hayat, 1992) comb.n., E. noyesi (Hayat, 1983) comb.n., E. pithecura (Polaszek, 1999) comb.n., E. tachii (Polaszek and Hayat, 1992) comb.n., E. taiwanensis (Chou and Chou, 1994) comb.n. and E. tamaulipeca (Myartseva and Coronado-Blanco, 2002) comb.n. The generic limits of Encarsia are re-defined based on a re-assessment of morphological characters, and the results are discussed with respect to the current classification of the aphelinid subfamily Coccophaginae.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Andrew Polaszek

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
identification/taxonomy

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Encarsia (genus - parasitoids)
Encarsia californica (parasitoid)
Encarsia aleurodici (parasitoid)
Encarsia noyesi (parasitoid)