Encyrtus aurantii (Geoffroy) (=Encyrtus lecaniorum (Mayr))

Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae

Female: Body length 1.6-3.0 mm. Head, mesosoma yellowish-brown to orange-brown; metasoma / gaster black with a metallic tinge; antenna black except scape pale yellow to white on outer margin; legs brown except fore- and hind coxae and hind tarsi white; apices of mesotibiae and tarsi lighter, yellowish brown; fore wing infuscate with dark setae forming characteristic pattern. Head with a genal expansion set with long, coarse, dark bristle-like setae, about twice as long as those on vertex. Antennae with long, cylindrical scape, rest of the segments progressively broader towards apex and more flattened. Scutellum with a dense tuft of dark bristles. Ovipositor not visibly exserted.

    Head - female
      Head and thorax - female, male

Male: Anterior half of head white, rest yellowish; antennae and legs generally paler than in female, flagellomeres dull white to pale brown with whorls of long setae; fore and middle legs more or less white, mid coxae darker, hind tibiae and tarsi blackish; wings hyaline; abdomen ventrally paler. Antennal scape about as long as combined length of pedicel and first funicular segment, funicular segments longer than broad. Scutellum with apical tuft of black setae as in female.

          Adult female, dorsal view
     Adult female, lateral view
 Adult male, lateral view

India: Karnataka; Australia (Malipatil et al., 2000); some countries in Afrotropical, Australasian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic regions (Noyes, 2009).

Saissetia coffeae, S. oleae, S. nigra, Coccus viridis, C. hesperidum, C. pseudomagnoliorum, Planococcus citri?, Pseudococcus longispinus? (Noyes, 2009).