Encarsia opulenta (Silvestri) a parasite of Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby

Encarsia opulenta (Silvestri) is one of the most effective parasitoids of the citrus blackfly, Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) (Fig. 1). It was discovered by Silvestri on A. incertus collected in Van-Phu (Vietnam) (Silvestri 1927). In 1950, E. opulenta from Saharanpur (India) were released for the control of A. woglumi in Mexico (Flanders 1969). The parasite was then introduced to Texas in 1971 (Summy et al. 1983), and Florida in 1976 (Hart et al. 1978) to suppress and maintain under the economic threshold the population of the citrus blackfly in these states.