Biological Evidence of Sibling Species in Aphytis maculicornis (Masi). (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae)

Abstract

In biological control work an early taxonomic identification of imported entomophagous species is helpful but not essential, for in this applied field of entomology the behaviour and biological characteristics of species are held paramount to their taxonomic status. In actual practice it frequently happens that a species is imported, tested, colonized, and established before its specific taxonomic identity is conclusively determined. Examples exist in recent literature where one may find references to such insects designated as “Aphytis X”, “Waikane Opius”, etc. While this situation is not altogether comfortable to the worker in biolngical control it arises as a natural conseqnence of the initial and necessary concentration on the ecological and biological aspects of insect groups. It is particularly intensified by the fact that many parasitic groups are still poorly understood taxonomically.