Geographical distribution ofAphidiidae [Hym.] imported to California for biological control ofAcyrthosiphon kondoi andAcyrthosiphon pisum [Hom.: Aphididae]

A survey forAcyrthosiphon kondoi Shinji and its insect enemies was conducted in 1976–1977 in Afghanistan, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Iran, Israel and Maroc. The search was concentrated in areas having cultivated species ofMedicago. A. kondoi was found only in Afghanistan, and in Iran. It was not found inMedicago-growing areas west from Iran, but it has been reported from India and Japan. Aphidius ervi Haliday,Aphidius urticae group,Praon barbatum Mackauer andAphidius smithi Sharma & Rao, were reared fromA. kondoi constituting new parasite records. New parasite and locality records were also found forA. urticae group,A. smithi andP. barbatum onAcyrthosiphum pisum (Harris). In laboratory trials, all cultures of parasitesA. ervi andP. barbatum readily parasitized and reproduced onA. kondoi onLens esculenta Moench. Cultures ofA. urticae group andA. smithi oviposited on, but did not complete development of immatures in,A. kondoi onL. esculenta. Hyperparasites identified as species includedAsaphes suspensus (Nees),Asaphes vulgaris Walker,Aphidencyrtus aphidivorus (Mayr),Dendrocerus breadalbimensis (Kieffer),Dendrocerus carpenteri (Curtis), andPachyneuron aphidis (Bouche). Available data suggest the origin of distribution ofA. kondoi may be Central Asia, and that populations ofA. ervi may be most suitable for colonization programs againstA. kondoi.