Massive brood of the parasitoid Hambletonia pseudococcina

The present research work was carried out at the Litoral Sur Experimental Station "Dr. Enrique Ampuero Pareja" of the Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuaria (INIAP), in the Department of Plant Protection, Entomology Area, with the objective of developing a mass rearing method for the parasitoid Hambletonia pseudococcina and verifying its efficacy in the field.Several hosts such as squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beans were used to develop a method of rearing and multiplication of the banana mealybug Dysmicoccus texensis, which were infested with five ovisacs and 50 nymphs.