Lamennaisia Girault 1922

Zuparko, Robert L., 2015, Annotated Checklist of California Encyrtidae (Hymenoptera), Zootaxa 4017 (1), pp. 1-126 : 33-34

Lamennaisia Girault 1922

Hosts. Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae , Lathridiidae , Orthoperidae ; Lepidoptera : Notodontidae

ambigua (Nees 1834: 239) (Encyrtus)

Type. Probably destroyed ( Noyes 1988b)

Distribution. W (Alameda, Alpine, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Kern, Lassen, Los Angeles, Marin, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside. Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne and Yolo)

Host/habitat. Bruchus brachialis , Melanophthalma sp.; NEW: Orthoperidae (UCDC), Phryganidia californica (CAS)

Remarks. Lamennaisia ambigua is a cosmopolitan species. This is the encyrtid I have most commonly collected in the state; it is especially abundant in grassy areas, but I have also collected it on trees, woody shrubs and Equisetum (Equisetaceae) species. It is also one of the few encyrtid species that is active throughout the year in California. Besides the hosts recorded above, L. ambigua has also been reared from Medicago sativa (Fabaceae) infested with Bruchophagus roddi Gussakovskiy ( Hymenoptera : Eurytomidae ) ( Noyes 1988b). Such a wide range in host taxa is unusual for an encyrtid, and suggests this species may be hyperparasitic. This species was recorded (as Encyrtus dubius ) as a parasitoid of Icerya purchasi based on a single specimen that issued from “…a box which contained only adult females of the scale.” ( Howard 1889). This record should be regarded as unproven, since alternative hosts might have been present as well.

spp.

Remarks. Specimens from an undescribed species were collected in Imperial, Orange and Riverside counties (UCDC, UCRC).