(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Ichneumonoidea; Family: Braconidae; Subfamily: Aphidiinae; Genus: Aphidius)

Aphidius matricariae Haliday,1834. Holotype: in the Natural History Museum, London (BMNH). Type Locality: United Kingdom.

Distribution

Introduced to the Afrotropical region: Burundi, Réunion, South Africa, Zimbabwe. Also on Marion Island.

Biology

Introduced to South Africa during 1988 from Turkey and during 1989–90 from the U.S.A. and Australia for the biological control of the Russian wheat aphid, D. noxia (Marasas et al. 1997; Pretorius 2008, Muller et al 2014).

References

Marasas, C., anandajayasekeram, P., Tolmay, V., Martella, D., Purchase, F. & Prinsloo, G. 1997. Socio-economic impact of the Russian wheat aphid control research programme. Southern African Centre for Cooperation in Agricultural and Natural Resources Research & Training (SACCAR), Gaborone, Botswana.

Lee, J. E., Slabber, S., Jansen van Vuuren, B., van Noort, S. & Chown, S. L. 2007. Colonisation of sub-Antarctic Marion Island by a non-indigenous aphid parasitoid Aphidius matricariae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). Polar Biology 30: 1195-1201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0277-z

Muller L, Krüger K & Kfir R. 2014. First report of the aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae) from South Africa. African Entomology 22(1): 214-215. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4001/003.022.0126

Pretorius, L.M. 2008. Introduced biological control agents of insect pests to South Africa 1892–2008. Unpublished report, Agricultural Research Council, Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.

Credits

Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).

Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

Citation: van Noort, S. 2026. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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