World Review of the Parasitoids of the Southern Green Stink Bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

Abstract

A survey of published and unpublished information was used to compile a list of insect parasitoids recorded emerging from Nezara viridula (L.) in the field worldwide. Fifty-seven species among two families of Diptera and five families of Hymenoptera are recorded; 41 are egg parasitoids. No hyperparasitoids are known. Most species are not closely associated with N. viridula, although some are well adapted and the status of others is unclear. Six species of Nearctic and Neotropical Tachinidae are well adapted to adult N. viridula and could become established in new areas; they also attack large nymphs. There are no effective parasitoids specific to nymphs. The scelionid Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston), probably of Old World origin, is the most widespread egg parasitoid and now occurs with N. viridula in the New World, coastal Africa, southern Europe, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific islands. Unique complexes of egg parasitoids occur in parts of Africa and eastern Asia. Based on the distribution of the genus Nezara and its species' color polymorphs and egg parasitoid complexes, N. viridula is considered to be of Ethiopian origin. African and Asian egg parasitoids in the genera Trissolcus, Telenomus, and Gryon, plus six New World Tachinidae, should be considered for establishment against N. viridula elsewhere.