Tena, A., Nieves, E., Herrero, J., & Urbaneja, A. 2017 Defensive behaviors of the new mealybug citrus pest, Delottococcus aberiae (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), against three generalist parasitoids. Journal of Economic Entomology 20(10):1-7

Keywords:

behavior

Notes: Here, we studied the defensive behavior of D. aberiae when it was attacked by three parasitoid species: Acerophagus angustifrons (Gahan), Anagyrus sp. near pseudoccoci (Girault), and Leptomastix algirica Trjapitzin (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). We recorded four defensive responses of D. aberiae to parasitoid attacks: abdominal flipping, swiveling around the inserted stylet, withdrawing the stylet and walking away, and, occasionally, they secreted ostiolar fluids. Despite these defensive behaviors, the mealybug did not escape parasitism from any of the tested parasitoids, even though A. angustifrons needed more than 15 min to parasitize.