46 Journal of Biological Control, 27 (1): 46–47, 2013 Research Note Recovery of the exotic parasitoid Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes and Schauff (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) on the invasive papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink in India M. MANI, A. KRISHNAMOORTHY 1 , C. SHIVARAJU, A. N. SHYLESHA and D. S. POKHARKAR 2 National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, P.O. Box No. 2491, Farm Post, Bellary Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, India 1 Division of Entomology & Nematology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake Post, Bangalore 560 089, India 2 AICRP on Biological Control, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, College of Agriculture, Pune 411 005, India Corresponding author E-mail: mmani1949@yahoo.co.in The papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink (Hemiptera: Pseudo- coccidae) is a native of Mexico. Since its description in 1992, it has invaded several countries including India, found first at Coimbatore in July 2008 in Tamil Nadu (Muniappan et al., 2006) causing extensive damage to papaya plantations later in several states in India (Shylesha et al., 2011). The activity of the parasitoids was monitored in papaya plantations infested with the mealybugs at IIHR farm, Bangalore and also at Ganeshkind farm at Pune. The leaves and fruits of papaya infested with P. marginatus were periodically collected and brought to the laboratory. The samples were kept in clean plastic jars to observe the emergence of natural enemies, if any. Samples collected in May 2011 and June, 2012 at IIHR Farm, Bangalore and Pune had yielded many dark brown with a coppery sheen adult parasitoids. They were collected and sent to NBAII Bangalore and I.A.R.I, New Delhi for identification. It was determined as Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes and Schauff. Pseudleptomastix mexicana is an important native parasitoid of P. marginatus in Mexico (Noyes and Schauff, 2003; Kauffman et al., 2001). Pseudleptomastix ABSTRACT: The encyrtid Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes and Schauff was recovered for the first time from the papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink in India in 2011-12 after 10 to 20 months of release in Bangalore and also in Pune in April 2012. However, parasitism by P. mexicana on P. marginatus did not exceed more than five per cent in both the locations. KEY WORDS: Pseudleptomastix mexicana, parasitoid, papaya mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus (Article chronicle: Received: 30-10-2012; Revised: 22-02-2013; Accepted: 10-03-2013) mexicana was cultured and shipped to many countries along with other parasitoids for making field releases including India (Shylesha et al., 2011). In October 2010, P. mexicana was released in IIHR farm in September 2010 in Bangalore and Ganeshkhind Farm at Pune. Although establishment of P. mexicana was seen in the initial months due to hyper activity and fast colonization of Acerophagus papayae Noyes and Schauff and long life cycle of P. mexicana (21-25 days), there was no immediate recovery of P. mexicana in these areas. Also, no field recovery of P. mexicana was made in spite of several field releases in Palau and Guam (Muniyappan et al. , 2006; Meyerdirk et al., 2004), Sri Lanka (Wahundennya et al., 2009) and also in Florida (Kaushalya et al., 2008). Surprisingly, samples collected in April 2011 and June 2012 at IIHR farm yielded P. mexicana. Parasitism by P. mexicana ranged from 3.50 to 4.85%. Similarly, P. mexicana was also recovered from P. marginatus at Ganeshkhind farm, Pune after 15 months of release in February 2012. The parasitism ranged from 2.80 to 4.35%. According to Arnold (2001), P. mexicana is another potential parasitoid for P. marginatus. The recovery study conducted in India revealed that P. mexicana played