Scientific name

Cowperia indica (Kerrich)

Taxonomic position

Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae: Encyrtinae

Diagnosis

Female: Body generally dark brown to black with a bluish tinge; frontovertex with large setigerous punctures of a thimble-like appearance; F1 at least slightly longer than pedicel; clava weakly obliquely truncate; mandible bidentate with ventral tooth strongly receding; scutellum strongly convex; fore wing with marginal vein absent, postmarginal and stigmal veins emitted from apex of parastigma; costal cell of hind wing large (Hayat, 2006).

 Thorax
 Forewing

Images

   Adult female and male - dorsal view

Distribution

India: Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh (Hayat, 2006).

Hosts / Biology

Pupae of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, Jauravia sp. on cotton, Scymnus sp. on guava; predator on Pseudococcus sp. (Kerrich, 1963); [with] Rastrococcus iceryoides on Mangifera indica (Hayat et al., 1975).

References

  • Hayat, M. 2006. Indian Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). viii +496pp. Published by M. Hayat, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, India.
  • Hayat, M., Alam, S. M. and Agarwal, M. M. 1975. Taxonomic survey of encyrtid parasites (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in India. Aligarh Muslim University Publications (Zoological Series) on Indian Insect Types, 9: i-iii. 1-112.
  • Kerrich, G. J. 1963. A study of the encyrtid genus Aminellus Masi, with systematic notes on the related genera (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Beiträge zur Entomologie, 13: 359-368.

Credits

Factsheet prepared by Dr. A. Rameshkumar, Research associate, NPIB, NBAII.