Recent records of the mealybug parasitoid Alamella mira Noyes (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) captured in citrophilus mealybug (Pseudococcus calceolariae) sex pheromone traps in Nelson

Abstract

Of the three known species in Alamella, A. mira is the only one known from New Zealand. The genus is also represented in Africa, Pakistan, India and Taiwan. The holotype of Alamella mira was reared from a long-tailed mealybug (Pseudococcus longispinus) collected from citrus in St Heliers, Auckland in 1981, and is held in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC). Pseudococcus longispinus originated from Australia, suggesting that A. mira has been accidentally introduced from Australia, although it has not been reported in that country.