Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) of the cabbage seedpod weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Georgia, USA

Five families and 13 species of Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) were obtained from mass-reared seedpods of Brassica napus L. (Brassicaceae) as putative parasitoids of the cabbage seedpod weevil, Ceutorhynchus obstrictus (Marsham) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Georgia, USA. The species are Conura torvina (Cresson) (Chalcididae), Euderus glaucus Yoshimoto and Necrenums tidius (Walker) (Eulophidae), Brasema allynii (French) n. comb. (from Eupelmus Dalman) and Eupelmus cyaniceps Ashmead (Eupelmidae), Eurytoma tylodermatis Ashmead (Eurytomidae), and Lyrcus incertus (Ashmead), L. maculatus (Gahan), L. perdubius (Girault), Mesopolobus moryoides Gibson, Neocatolaccus tylodermae (Ashmead), Pteromalus cerealellae (Ashmead) and Pteromalus sp. (Pteromalidae). An illustrated key is provided to differentiate the taxa. Lyrcus maculatus constituted about 96% of all reared Pteromalidae and 86% of the total parasitoid fauna. The associations of B. allynii, E. glaucus, E. cyaniceps, E. tylodermatis, L. incertus, N. tylodermae, Pteromalus sp. and P. cerealellae with C. obstrictus are new, but some of these species likely are hyperparasitoids or emerged from insect contaminants of the mass-reared seedpods. The only previous report of a parasitoid of C. obstrictus in eastern North America, Trichomalus perfectus (Walker) (Pteromalidae), is a misidentification. The parasitoid fauna of C. obstrictus in Georgia is discussed relative to that known for western North America.