Amitus Haldeman, 1850

Lahey, Zachary & Stansly, Philip, 2015, An updated list of parasitoid Hymenoptera reared from the Bemisia tabaci species complex (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), Florida Entomologist 98 (2), pp. 456-456 : 456-

Amitus Haldeman (Platygastroidea: Platygastridae )

Amitus is 1 of 3 genera of whitefly parasitoids in the Platygastridae , all of which are primary endoparasitoids of whiteflies. Of the 19 species that comprise the genus, 4 ( bennetti , fuscipennis , hesperidum , and longicornis ) are recorded as parasitoids of B. tabaci . Amitus bennetti Viggiani & Evans was introduced into Florida from Puerto Rico for control of MEAM 1 in the early 1990’s ( Nguyen & Bennett 1995). Although recoveries were made several weeks afer initial field releases, it is unknown if this species established. Surveys conducted in southwest Florida in the mid 1990s, and from 2012–2013 did not recover this species, or any other species of Amitus , from B. tabaci ( Stansly et al. 1997; Z. Lahey, unpublished data). Amitus fuscipennis MacGown & Nebeker is a well-known parasitoid of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) , and appears capable of utilizing B. tabaci in the laboratory (reference in Gerling et al. 2001); to our knowledge A. fuscipennis has never been reared from B. tabaci in the field. Both A. hesperidum Silvestri and A. longicornis (Förster) parasitize citrus pests in the genus Aleurocanthus Quaintance. Additional Amitus have been reared from B. tabaci in Honduras ( Vélez 1993) and Nicaragua ( Nunes et al. 2006).

Identification of Amitus is difficult due to a lack of information re- garding the genus. Viggiani & Mazzone (1982) provided a key to the species of Italy. MacGown & Nebeker (1978) reviewed the species of the Western Hemisphere, and Polaszek (1997) discussed the European species. Some of the New World species were addressed by Viggiani & Evans (1992).