RESEARCH ARTICLE Life history and demography of Psyllaephagus zdeneki (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), a potential candidate for biological control of olive psylla, Euphyllura pakistanica (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) R. Asadi a , A.A. Talebi a *, J. Khalghani b , Y. Fathipour a , S. Moharramipour a and K.M. Daane c a Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 14115-336, Tehran, Iran; b Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture, Tehran, Iran; c Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, USA (Received 9 November 2009; returned 30 November 2009; accepted 9 April 2011) Life history and demographic parameters of Psyllaephagus zdeneki Noyes and Fallahzadeh (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) were studied on its host the olive psyllid, Euphyllura pakistanica Loginova (Hemiptera: Psyllidae). Experiments were conducted in a growth chamber at 20918C, relative humidity of 6095%, and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L: D) hours. Four different olive cultivars (Fishomi, Shenge, Oil and Yellow) were used to test possible host plant influence on parasitoid performance. The pre-imaginal developmental period of female P. zdeneki varied from 24.96 (on Fishomi) to 26.34 (on Shenge) days, and for males from 21.63 (on Fishomi) to 24.44 (on Yellow) days. Adult female longevity differed significantly among the four cultivars, ranging from 12.46 (on Fishomi) to 14.97 (on Shenge) days. For each cultivar, adult female longevity was significantly greater than male longevity. Life table parameters showed survival rates (l x ) in newly emerged females were 84.61, 82.25, 85.71 and 78.12% on Fishomi, Yellow, Shenge and Oil, respectively. Female egg deposition was highest on Yellow (138.4 eggs per female) and lowest on Fishomi (116.3 eggs per female). The highest and lowest intrinsic rate of increase were 0.28 (on Shenge) and 0.24 (on Oil), respectively. The mean generation time ranged from 14.6 (on Shenge) to 16.7 (on Oil) days. These results are discussed with respect to the potential impact P. zdeneki as a natural enemy of E. pakistanica, the most important pest of olive in the Fars province of Iran, as well as the influence of olive cultivar on parasitoid life table parameters. Keywords: Psyllaephagus zdeneki; Euphyllura pakistanica; Encyrtidae; Psyllidae; biological control; fecundity; life history; demography; olive psylla Introduction The olive, Olea europaea (L.) is an economically important crop in Iran. The olive psylla, Euphyllura pakistanica Loginova (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is a serious pest of olives in Fars province of Iran, as well as in Pakistan, India and Syria (Loginova 1976; Thakur, Atwal and Gupta 1997; Virender, Malik, Uma and Monobrullah 2007, Asadi et al. 2009). E. pakistanica was first reported from Shiraz (Fars province) in 2004 (Alemansour and Fallahzadeh 2004) and is now distributed throughout the *Corresponding author. Email: talebia@modares.ac.ir Biocontrol Science and Technology , Vol. 21, No. 7, July 2011, 765778 ISSN 0958-3157 print/ISSN 1360-0478 online # 2011 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09583157.2011.580836 http://www.informaworld.com