Parasitoid complex of leaf miner Pyllonorycter comparella (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) in Hungary

Abstract

Abstract Between 2011 and 2014, 1,154 mines of Phyllonorycter comparella (Duponchel) were collected at 12 locations in Hungary and were put into single-mine rearing containers. A total of 574 parasitoid specimens belonging to 29 parasitoid species (26 Chalcididae, 2 Encyrtidae and 1 Braconidae) emerged. Of these species, 13 have not yet been mentioned in either international or in Hungarian literature as a parasitoid of the P. comparella. The species assemblages of the parasitoid complexes varied greatly among the sample sites. The primary dominant species of the total samples was found to be Sympiesis sericeicornis (Nees), an abundant idiobiont solitary ectoparasitoid. Among the species reared, we have found specialist parasitoids such as Achrysocharoides scaposa (Erdős) and even species never recorded from Populus (Zagrammosoma variegatum (Masi)) according to the Universal Chalcidoidea Database.