Pseudleptomastix Girault 1915

Pseudleptomastix Girault 1915d

Hosts. Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae

squammulata Girault 1915d: 272

Type. USNM

Distribution. W (Alameda, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Lassen, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Ventura)

Host/habitat. Amonostherium lichtensioides, Pseudococcus maritimus; NEW: Spilococcus pressus

Remarks. This species has also been reported from California under its junior synonyms Paraleptomastix notatus Girault 1917c and Pseudleptomastix flatulescens Compere 1926a. One of the distinguishing characters of this species is the all yellow fore coxae, but in a short series of specimens from Kern County (RLZC), the color varies from almost all yellow to almost all black.

spp.

Remarks. Two species of the genus (P. squammulata and P. tertia Kerrich 1982, the latter known only from the eastern seaboard) have been recorded from the United States, but I have seen specimens that appear to represent an additional five morphospecies present in the state from Kern, Imperial, Marin, Lassen, Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Stanislaus counties (RLZC, UCDC, UCFC, UCRC). A single specimen (UCRC) was reared from an Asphondylia sp. stem gall on Larrea tridentata, and a series of specimens from Marin County (RLZC) appear to be associated with Calycadenia multiglandulosa (Asteraceae). There is another series of specimens that appear to be near to Pseudleptomastix, reared in association with male Rhopus from Dysmicoccus timberlakei in Alameda County (EMEC).