Lipolexis scutellaris MacKauer = Lipolexis oregmae (Gahan)

(Insecta: Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae)

Lipolexis scutellaris is a parasitoid that has a broad host range, including aphids in the genera Aphis, Rhopalosiphum and Toxoptera, among others.

Adults are minute wasps with a dark brown head and thorax, a lighter abdomen, and transparent wings. Their antennae are long, measuring at least two thirds of their body length.

This endoparasitoid undergoes four instars and spins a cocoon inside or under the aphid exoskeleton. This ultimately leads to mummification and death of the aphid host. Lipolexis scutellaris completes its life cycle in about two weeks.

Lipolexis scutellaris parasitoids were imported from Guam into Florida and released in 2000 as a classical biological control of the brown citrus aphid.

Images 

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Two adult Lipolexis scutellaris MacKauer wasps on a citrus leaf with nymphs of the brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida

(Photographer: Lyle Buss, University of Florida)

Mummy of a brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida, killed by the parasitoid Lipolexis scutellaris MacKauer

(Photographer: Lyle Buss, University of Florida)