| PROSPALTELLA (ENCARSIA) BERLESEI HOW |
| Latin name: PROSPALTELLA (ENCARSIA) BERLESEI HOW |
| Order: Hymenoptera |
| Family: Aphelinidae
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| Parasitized kinds: Diaspis pentogona (Targ.) (White cochineal of the mulberry-tree and the peach-tree) |
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| Morphology and biology: |
| The adult bug, that measure 0,7 mm, has a yellowish color; it spends the winter inside the host as a mature larva or as a pupa, generally it completes 4 generations a year. The female deposes inside the host (a female of Diaspis) an egg; the larva feed on the fabrics of the host, it transform itself into nymph and therefore the adult flutters, perforating the scutellum. The Prospaltella berlesei had cared from the North America, where it had come from the Japan in 1906 from Berlese; it was used for the struggle against the Cochineal of the mulberry and the peach tree. Today it is perfectly acclimatized and it constitutes an important factor of control of the population of the Diaspis. The seasonal numerical increase (repopulation) can be done introducing branches with parasitized Diaspis pentagona, drawned in other orchards, or with the Aphelidite reproduced in insectarium. The breeding in insectarium is made on natural host, raised on vegetable of substitution (budded potatoes). |
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