Species diversity of parasitoid wasps of Encyrtidae and Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) in south counties of Kerman province, Iran

Abstract

In the present study, species diversity of Encyrtidae and Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) parasitoid wasps were investigated in southern counties of Kerman province. The specimens were collected from 15 regions in 5 counties, using Malaise trap during 2015 and 2016. All obtained specimens were identified to species level and the number of each species per sample were counted. Species diversity and evenness indices of different regions were analyzed, using the software SDR4. A total of 40 species belonging to 25 genera and two families were registered in this research from southern regions of Kerman province. Among all species, Oencyrtus telenomicida (Vassiliev, 1904) with 39 specimens (22.3%) belonging to Encyrtidae and Halticoptera andriescui Mitroiu, 2005 with 28 specimens (16%) and Chlorocytus spicatus (Walker, 1835) with 20 specimens (12.1%) both belonging to Pteromalidae were the most abundant species, respectively. According to the studied indices, Bam had the highest species diversity and evenness among the studied regions. The highest similarity was also found between the wasp communities in Jiroft and Kahnuj.

Keywords

• natural enemies
• species richness
• biodiversity
• fauna
• abundance