Aphelinid

(Aphelinus mali), a parasitic hymenopteron from the family Chalcididae.

The body of the aphelinid is 1.2 mm long. It is found in North America, where it is used to combat the woolly aphid, a dangerous apple pest. The female parasite lays her eggs in the aphids, where the larvae develop; this causes the aphids to die. The aphelinid was introduced into the USSR during the period 1926–30, multiplied in laboratories, and released in the Caucasus and the Ukraine in aphid-infested orchards, where it acclimatized and now keeps down the reproduction of the wooly aphid.