Zappalà, L., Siscaro, G., Saraceno, F., Palmeri, V., & Raciti, E. 2006 Quality control in Aphytis melinus mass rearing for the biological control of Aonidiella aurantii.. Bulletin OILB/SROP (Sect. Reg. Ouest Palearctique) 29(3): 181-186.

Notes: [International Conference on Integrated Control in Citrus Fruit Crops. Proceedings of the meeting of the International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control of Noxious Animals and Plants, West Palearctic Regional Section (IOBC/WPRS) Working Group, Lisbon, Portugal, 26-27 September 2005.] Laboratory trials were conducted to test the quality of the parasitoid Aphytis melinus DeBach (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), the main bio-control agent of the California Red Scale Aonidiella aurantii Maskell (Homoptera: Diaspididae), reared in the insectary of the Sicilian Regional Phytosanitary Service. The trials were conducted following the guidelines of the IOBC working group "Quality control of mass reared arthropods", under the following conditions 25+/-2(deg)C, 60+/-10% RH, 16L:18D. The parameters analyzed were the number of adults as specified on the releasing container, the sex-ratio (100 adults from bulk material), survival in transport (1000 adults maintained at 17+/-2(deg)C for 5 days in a container with honey on the lid) and fecundity (observed on 30 females placed individually in contact for 5 days with 100 specimens of Aspidiotus nerii Bouche (Homoptera: Diaspididae) on squash). The data on the number of adults confirmed the quantities indicated on the containers and averaged 5000+/-500 (n=3). The percentage of females was 70.8+/-4.6% (n=5) and the percentage of mortality after 5 days was 9.3 (n=5). The mean progeny produced per single female was 39.67+/-10.63% (n=3).