Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Encarsia

Encarsia(?) sp. - Encarsia Encarsia Encarsia Encarsia Unknown Parasitic Wasp - Encarsia Unknown Parasitic Wasp - Encarsia Encarsia - Encarsia formosa 11/7 lateral - Encarsia - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon ("Parasitica" - Parasitoid Wasps)
Superfamily Chalcidoidea (Chalcidoid Wasps)
Family Aphelinidae
Subfamily Coccophaginae
Genus Encarsia
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Encarsia Förster 1878
Numbers
~50 spp. in our area, ~400 spp. worldwide(1)
Plus several introduced species as biocontrols.
Food
Primary parasitoids mostly of whiteflies (Aleyrodidae) and scale insects (Diaspididae). A few attack other insects, such as aphids, lepidopteran eggs, and shield-back bugs (Plataspidae).
Remarks
Used in biocontrol.
An introduced species [pdf] (Encarsia perplexa) to combat the citrus blackfly
Encarsia inaron introduced to fight the ash whitefly.
And Encarsia formosa introduced to fight greenhouse whiteflies.
Internet References
Dugesiana. Especies de Encarsia (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) que parasitan Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) en Tamaulipas y Morelos, México, y descripción de una especie nueva