Endemic Parasitoids of Dryocosmus kuriphilus Y asumatsu (Hymenoptera: Cinipidae) in Central Italy

Abstract

The presence of chestnut gall wasp was reported for the first time in Northern Italy in 2002 and has subsequently spread rapidly in Central and Southern Italy. Knowing the harmfulness of this wasp for chestnut growing, we considered essential to inquire the cohort of parasitoids of this new insect for the Italian fauna. This research reports on preliminary results obtained in 2007 on the D. kuriphilus parasitoids in Central Italy. In particular, eight parasitoids species have been found: two Euritomidae [Sycophila biguttata (Swederus) Eurytoma brunniventris (Ratzeburg)], one Pteromalidae [Mosopolobus sericeus (Forster)], three Torymidae [Torymus flavipes (Walker), T. erucarum (Schrank), Megastigmus dorsalis (Fabricius)], one Eupelmidae [Eupelmus urozonus (Dalaman)] and one Ormyridae [Ormyrus pomaceus (Geoffroy)]. We report for the first time the presence of the Torymus erucarum as parasitoid of D. kuriphilus.