The study has recorded the Hoverfly parasite Diplazon laetatorius (Fabricius, 1781) for the first time in Iraq. The material examined was from Karbala city, with coordinates 32.6068° N, 44.0104° E, 14.4.2019, 4 ♀. This ichneumonid wasp is imported for the biological control of pests. It is vital to increase awareness among Iraqi growers about the benefits of this ichneumonid wasp and probably included it in IPM.
During insect surveys in June 2019 using yellow pan traps and sweep nets in agricultural areas of the Al Husayniya district of Karbala Governorate, three species of the economically important parasitoid genus Scelio were identified. Scelio howardi Crawford, S. striatus Priesner and S. variegatus Kozlov and Kononova all represent new records in Iraq. The current known distributions and host records of these three species are summarised, and their diagnostic features are illustrated. Previously unpublished host records are presented for S. striatus
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The family Chalcididae (Order: Hymenoptera) is known as one of the large chalcidoid wasps with some distinct morphological characters. The first occurrence of two parasitoid species belonging to this family was reported in the Al-Husayniya district Karbala Province, Iraq; which are: Brachymeria podagrica (Fabricius, 1787) and Chalcis myrifex (Sulzer, 1776). Both species were collected by using the sweeping net from orchards during July 2020.
The subfamily Cryptinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is the largest ichneumon wasps. During insect survey in fruit trees field, Karbala Governorate, Synechocryptus bovei was collected in 2019 using sweep nets. This is the first report of S. bovei from Karbala, Iraq.
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