Martínez-Chávez, Laura Marcela;Duque-Gamboa, Diana Nataly;Toro-Perea, Nelson
Encarsia
Sign in to saveEncarsia is a large genus of minute parasitic wasps of the family Aphelinidae. The genus is very diverse with currently about 400 described species and worldwide distribution. The number of existing species is expected to be several times higher because many species are still undescribed. Encarsia is a very complex genus, with specimens showing both inter- and intra-specific variations, making morphological classification difficult.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderHymenoptera
- FamilyAphelinidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 4,374
- With media
- 790
- Family
- Aphelinidae
- Collections
- UCSB, TAMU, USNM, INHS, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, CENTRE FOR BIODIVERSITY GENOMICS
- Recorded in
- United States, Canada, Indonesia, India
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Aphelinidae
- Image
- Encarsia perplexa.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- taxon name
- Encarsia
- taxon rank
- genus
- topic's main category
- Category:Encarsia
- Commons category
- Encarsia
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
2 sectionsContents
- Species used in biological control
- References
Encarsia is a large genus of minute parasitic wasps of the family Aphelinidae. The genus is very diverse with currently about 400 described species and worldwide distribution. The number of existing species is expected to be several times higher because many species are still undescribed. Encarsia is a very complex genus, with specimens showing both inter- and intra-specific variations, making morphological classification difficult.
The adult wasps, tiny insects about 1 or 2 millimeters in size, are primarily parasitoids of sessile stages of Sternorrhyncha, in particular whiteflies (Aleyrodidae) and scale insects (Diaspididae). A few species are known to parasitize aphids, eggs of shield-back bugs (Plataspidae), and eggs of Lepidoptera. Females mostly develop as primary endoparasitoids, and males are commonly hyperparasitoids of the same or other species. This so-called heteronomy, a sexually dimorphic host relationship, occurs in quite a few species.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Encarsia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.