Metanotalia Mercet 1921

Hosts. Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae

maderensis (Walker 1872: 116) (Ectroma)

Type. BMNH

Distribution. A (Alameda, Amador, Contra Costa, Glenn, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, Napa, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare)

Host/habitat. Antonina purpurea, Phenacoccus madeirensis

Remarks. Despite its small size, this is an easily recognized species, and since the mid 1990s, I have often swept it from grass in many areas throughout the state. However, the first published record of this species from California wasn’t until 1988 (Noyes 1988b), and the earliest record I found from the state was from Orange County (UCRC) in 1983, suggesting it is a relatively recent introduction. The species is probably Palearctic in origin, and now occurs in New Zealand as well as throughout the Holarctic region (Noyes 2001). It may have been unintentionally introduced into southern California in a shipment of parasitized mealybugs from Taiwan in 1951 (Zuparko 1995a).