assessment of their potential for biological control of pests by these parasitoids.
Prospaltella berlesei Howard (Aphelinidae) was imported and established for biological control of Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni) (Hem.: Diaspididae) in the
north of Iran, Guilan province (Habibian 1981). An unknown Iranian species of
Gonatocerus (Mymaridae) was introduced to the US to use it as a biocontrol agent
(Triapitsyn 2013). Exploring parasitoids of Hypera postica (Gyllenhal) (Col.:
Curculionidae) was conducted from 1973 to 1975 in Iran and nearby countries and
resulted in finding two larval parasitoids of the pest, Bathyplectes anurus (Thomson)
and Bathyplectes curculionis (Thomson) (Hym.: Ichneumonidae, Campopleginae)
(Gonzalez et al. 1980). Abaei studied the natural enemies of Lymantria dispar (Lep.:
Lymantriidae) a destructive pest of forest in Iran by cooperating with the parasitology laboratory of France under the supervision of Dr. Herard during 1975–1976
(Abai 2011; Herard et al. 1979).
Augmentation biological control programs by mass-rearing and releasing of some
species of Braconidae and Trichogrammatidae have been started from the early
recent century in Iran. Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hym.: Braconidae, Braconinae)
is a polyphagous biological control agent of several crop pests (Amir-Maafi and Chi
2006; Forouzan et al. 2008, 2009; Taghizadeh and Basiri 2013). It is widely
distributed in the Holarctic and Oriental regions and reported as a parasitoid of
several species of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Yu et al. 2012).
7.2 The Superfamily Chalcidoidea
7.2.1 Some Chalcidoids Parasitoids of Major Pests in Iran
Agricultural stored products threaten by several storage insect pests with a loss of
about 6–10% reduction in Iran (Maroof 2002). These storage pests mostly belong to
Coleoptera and Lepidoptera attacked by several species of natural enemies especially hymenopterous parasitoids.
Five pteromalid species have been reared as parasitoids of stored product pests in
Iran: Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard), Dinarmus vagabundus (Timberlake),
Lariophagus distinguendus (Förster), Theocolax elegans (Westwood), Theocolax
formiciformis (Westwood). Within these parasitoids, A. calandrae is a well known
cosmopolitan parasitoid of Anobiidae and Bruchinae (Coleoptera) associated with
stored products and widely distributed in Iran (Lotfalizadeh and Hosseini 2013). It
has been shown that A. calandrae prefers fourth instar larvae of Callosobruchus
maculatus than other stages and exhibited type II functional response to this stage
(Kazemi et al. 2004).
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H. Lotfalizadeh and A. Mohammadi-Khoramabadi
Prospaltella berlesei Howard (Aphelinidae) was imported and established for biological control of Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni) (Hem.: Diaspididae) in the
north of Iran, Guilan province (Habibian 1981). An unknown Iranian species of
Gonatocerus (Mymaridae) was introduced to the US to use it as a biocontrol agent
(Triapitsyn 2013). Exploring parasitoids of Hypera postica (Gyllenhal) (Col.:
Curculionidae) was conducted from 1973 to 1975 in Iran and nearby countries and
resulted in finding two larval parasitoids of the pest, Bathyplectes anurus (Thomson)
and Bathyplectes curculionis (Thomson) (Hym.: Ichneumonidae, Campopleginae)
(Gonzalez et al. 1980). Abaei studied the natural enemies of Lymantria dispar (Lep.:
Lymantriidae) a destructive pest of forest in Iran by cooperating with the parasitology laboratory of France under the supervision of Dr. Herard during 1975–1976
(Abai 2011; Herard et al. 1979).
Augmentation biological control programs by mass-rearing and releasing of some
species of Braconidae and Trichogrammatidae have been started from the early
recent century in Iran. Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hym.: Braconidae, Braconinae)
is a polyphagous biological control agent of several crop pests (Amir-Maafi and Chi
2006; Forouzan et al. 2008, 2009; Taghizadeh and Basiri 2013). It is widely
distributed in the Holarctic and Oriental regions and reported as a parasitoid of
several species of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Yu et al. 2012).
7.2 The Superfamily Chalcidoidea
7.2.1 Some Chalcidoids Parasitoids of Major Pests in Iran
Agricultural stored products threaten by several storage insect pests with a loss of
about 6–10% reduction in Iran (Maroof 2002). These storage pests mostly belong to
Coleoptera and Lepidoptera attacked by several species of natural enemies especially hymenopterous parasitoids.
Five pteromalid species have been reared as parasitoids of stored product pests in
Iran: Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard), Dinarmus vagabundus (Timberlake),
Lariophagus distinguendus (Förster), Theocolax elegans (Westwood), Theocolax
formiciformis (Westwood). Within these parasitoids, A. calandrae is a well known
cosmopolitan parasitoid of Anobiidae and Bruchinae (Coleoptera) associated with
stored products and widely distributed in Iran (Lotfalizadeh and Hosseini 2013). It
has been shown that A. calandrae prefers fourth instar larvae of Callosobruchus
maculatus than other stages and exhibited type II functional response to this stage
(Kazemi et al. 2004).
234
H. Lotfalizadeh and A. Mohammadi-Khoramabadi