Abstract
We investigated parasitism of the tea spiny whitefly Aleurocanthus camelliae Kanmiya & Kasai by the parasitoid Encarsia smithi (Silvestri) in 121 tea fields in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, from Dec. 2012 to Mar. 2013. The parasitism rate ranged from 0% to 92.3%, with a mean of 29.1%. Thirty of the fields had rates of parasitism ranging from 10% to 20%, whereas 16 fields contained no parasitized whitefly. Although a comparison of E. smithi parasitism among six different areas failed to reveal clear differences, the parasitism rate in the Maki-no-hara area, where A. camelliae was recorded for the first time in Shizuoka Prefecture, was significantly higher than that in the central area. The relationship between the densities of A. camelliae and the rate of E. smithi parasitism showed a negative correlation, suggesting that the density of A. camelliae in tea fields is influenced by E. smithi parasitism.
