Background: In 2020 and 2021, chalcidoid parasitoids (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) of bark beetles in pine (Pinus spp.) plantations were studied in Bulgaria. Samples (cuttings of stems and branches) of pine trees infested by bark beetles were collected from seven plantations of Pinussylvestris and P.nigra in Bulgaria. From each sampling plot, five cuttings were collected and placed in photoeclectors in laboratory conditions (18-22ºC). Emerged bark beetles and parasitoids were regularly gathered and fixed in ethanol.
New information: Six parasitoid species - Dinotiscuscolon, Metacolusazureus, M.unifasciatus, Rhopalicusquadratus, R.tutela (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae) and Heydeniapretiosa (Chalcidoidea, Heydeniidae) were reared from five bark beetle hosts (Ipsacuminatus, Pityogenesbistridentatus, Pityophthoruspityographus, Tomicuspiniperda and T.minor). Amongst them, three species (H.pretiosa, M.azureus and R.quadratus) are recorded as new for Bulgarian fauna.
Keywords: Bulgaria; Heydeniidae; Pteromalidae; bark beetles; new records; parasitoids.
Sevdalin Belilov, Ivaylo Todorov, Margarita Georgieva, Georgi Georgiev.