Luffia lapidella (Goeze, 1783) (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) proved to be the host of Choeras gielisi van Achterberg (Braconidae: Microgastrinae), new to Britain

Abstract

Choeras gielisi is recorded from Britain for the first time, on the basis of two female and two male specimens reared solitarily from sexual and parthenogenetic forms of Luffia lapidella at different sites. These rearings, the first with clear host determination, provide strong evidence that the type specimen of C. gielisi had not been a parasitoid of the terrestrial caddisfly Enoicyla pusilla, as had been supposed from inadequate evidence at the time of its description.