Antennal sensilla were compared in females of two encyrtid Hymenoptera, Epidinocarsis lopezi and Leptomastix dactylopii, parasitoids of adults and larvae of Pseudococcidae. The external morphology of these sensilla was studied using scanning electron microscopy and their ultrastructure observed under transmission electron microscopy using ultrathin sections. Female antennae have seven different types of sensilla, morphologically very similar in the two species: trichoid sensilla, which are putative mechanosensilla, sensilla chaetica types 1 and 2, which are presumably contact chemosensilla, and sensilla chaetica types 3 and 4, basiconic sensilla, and placoid sensilla, which are all presumed to be olfactory sensilla. Sensilla chaetica types 2 and 4 are thought to be directly involved in host discrimination. The only differences between the two species are in the number and distribution of some types of sensilla. These differences might be related to the varied tritrophic ecological context of the two species rather than to their similar biology.

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