Lysiphlebus testaceipes Cresson

(Insecta: Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae)

The parasitoid Lysiphlebus testaceipes has a broad host range that includes the brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida (Kirkaldy), oleander aphid, Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe, and many other aphids in the genera Aphis, Brachycaudus, Macrosiphum, Myzus and Toxoptera.

Adults are minute wasps of less than 3 mm long and dark greenish to black. Brown mummies on aphid-infested plants are a good indicator for the presence of this parasitoid.

Females lay individual eggs inside the aphid host, where larvae hatch and feed and develop causing the aphid host to die and turn into a brown mummy. The endoparasitoid overwinters as larva or pupa inside the mummy. At 21C (70F), the life cycle of Lysiphlebus testaceipes is completed in about two weeks.

Lysiphlebus testaceipes wasps have been reported to parasitize the brown citrus aphid in Florida, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

Images 

To save the Web-optimized images shown below to your hard drive:

PC users: right click to "Save Picture (or Image) As..."

Mac users: click and drag to your desktop.

Adult wasp of Lysiphlebus testaceipes Cresson emerging from a mummy of brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida

(Photographer: Lyle Buss, University of Florida)

Mummies of oleander aphid, Aphis nerii, parasitized likely by Lysiphlebus testaceipes Cresson

(Photographer: Lyle Buss, University of Florida)