© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Bella
56
Uzbekistan, the Canary Islands and Moroc-
co (CABI, 2014).
The first record for mainland Greece is that
of Martinou
et al.
(2011), while from the is-
land of Corfu the species is recorded by
Parker (2010).
Host plant:
C. marshalli
is a pest of cultivated
Geranium
spp. and
Pelargonium
spp. (Gera-
niaceae), but the butterfly also has the ca-
pacity to infest native
Geranium
spp., and
could cause problems for the wild species.
Material examined: Benitses, 39°32΄N,
19°54΄E, 6 m a.s.l., 16.VIII.2013, adults on
flowers of Geranium sp.
Biological remarks: eggs are laid near the
flower buds or less frequently on the leaves;
the hatched larvae penetrate inside the
stems of the host plant, where they bore
galleries and emerge at the fourth and fi-
nal larval stage to form light-green to dark-
brown pupae. In favourable conditions they
can produce up to six generations per year.
The flight period occurs from the first half
of April to the first half of November (Lon-
go, 2004).
Hymenoptera, Eulophidae
Leptocybe invasa Fisher and La Salle 2004
Native range: species described from Aus-
tralia.
Distribution: it is widespread in Europe
(Balearic Islands, Portugal, Spain, France,
Corsica, Italy, Sardinia, Sicily, Greece and Ca-
nary Islands); also found in Africa (Morocco,
Algeria, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania,
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa);
in Asia (Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Kurdis-
tan, Iran, Iraq, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Cam-
bodia and China); in Oceania (Australia and
New Zealand); in South America (Brazil and
Argentina) and in the USA (Florida) (Maatouf
and Lumaret, 2012).
Host plant: the pest attacks different species
of
Eucalyptus
(Myrtaceae).
Material examined: Benitses, 39°32΄N,
19°54΄E, 6 m a.s.l., 16.VIII.2013, galls and
adults on
Eucalyptus camaldulensis
.
Biological remarks:
L. invasa
is particular-
ly damaging to new growth, due to its pref-
erence for young leaves (including petioles)
and stems of new shoots for oviposition:
plants may become deformed, and growth
may be stunted due to heavy galling. The
wasp produces two or three overlapping
generations per year. A female lays about
80-100 eggs shallowly beneath the epider-
mis; the larvae complete their development
within the gall (Kim, 2008).
Associated parasitoids
Hymenoptera, Platygastridae
Platygaster robiniae Buhl and Duso 2008
Native range: species of Nearctic origin.
Distribution: the parasitoid wasp is present
in France, Italy, Sicily, Switzerland, Denmark,
Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Czech
Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, South Korea and
China (Jørgensen, 2009; Sviridov and Bazhe-
nova, 2009; Lu
et al
., 2010; DAISIE, 2014).
Host: specific parasitoid of the locust gall
midge,
Obolodiplosis robiniae
(Diptera, Ceci-
domyiidae).
Material examined: Benitses, 39°32΄N,
19°54΄E, 6 m a.s.l., 16.VIII.2013; Corfu city,
39°37’N, 19°55’E, 10 m a.s.l., 17.VIII.2013,
found to parasitize larvae of
O. robiniae
in-
festing
Robinia pseudoacacia
L. (Fabaceae).
Biological remarks:
P. robiniae
is a gregari-
ous, koinobiont endoparasitoid of
O. robin-
iae
; it is an egg-larval parasitoid, parasitis-
ing eggs of
O. robiniae
and emerging from
the host larvae. After hatching, the parasi-
toid undergoes only two larval instars, and
development from egg to adult takes about
28 days to complete. The life cycle of a par-
asitoid generation is synchronised with that
of its host; the adult wasps’ emergence coin-
cides with that of the host, so that they can
parasitise the host eggs (Kim
et al
., 2011).
Observed parasitisation: based on person-
al observations conducted in the town of
Corfu, 55 galls were observed (1-3 for single
leaflets) on a totally of 30 attacked preleved
leaves, with 32 emerged specimens of
P. ro-
biniae
.
