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How to Manage Pests
Identification: Natural Enemies Gallery
Lysiphlebus testaceipes
Scientific name: Lysiphlebus testaceipes
Click on image to enlarge
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Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Aphidiidae
Common hosts: Cotton/melon aphid and many other aphid species in the genera Brachycaudus, Macrosiphum, and Myzus on many plants
Commercially available: Yes
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The Lysiphlebus testaceipes adult is a tiny, less than 0.118 inch (3 mm), slender, dark greenish to black wasp. The female wasp lays an egg inside the aphid. The developing
offspring feeds grows inside the aphid, killing it and causing it to transform into a
brown mummy. L. testaceipes overwinters as a larva or pupa inside aphid mummies. At maturity, the adult wasp
exits through a hole it cuts in the top of the mummy. The developing
offspring feeds grows inside the aphid, killing it and causing it to transform into a
brown mummy.
Development from egg to adult takes about 14 days at 70°F. The easiest way to detect this parasite is to look for brown mummies on aphid infested leaves.
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