Abstract
The pistachio twig borer moth, Kermania pistaciella Amsel (Lepidoptera: Tineidae), is a native and well known univoltine pest of pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) in Iran and Turkey (Mehrnejad 2001). The moth lays eggs on the flower clusters and the newly hatched larva penetrates into the cluster tissue. The earliest damage appears in the young succulent clusters when the whole cluster turns black and falls off the trees. A larva bores a tunnel in the cluster towards the twigs and lives there for about ten months. The pest causes fruit drop and the infested twigs do not grow well. Surveys were conducted from 2003 – 2006 in the pistachio growing areas in Kerman province, in the southern part of Iran, to monitor the parasitoid complex associated with K. pistaciella. During this project, an encyrtid parasitoid was reared from pupae of both the pest and its primary parasitoid, Chelonus kermakiae Tobias (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). As the biology of this encyrtid is unique within the family it is described below. It is provisionally placed within the genus Cheiloneurus Westwood (see discussion below).
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