Cotesia icipe

Cotesia icipe is a parasitoid species of wasp of the genus Cotesia. Found in tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, it was first discovered as a parasitoid of the Lepidopterans Spodoptera littoralis and beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua). Therefore it is now being studied as a possible biological control of Lepidopteran pests of amaranth crops in those areas.^[1]

Cotesia icipe
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Braconidae
Genus:	Cotesia
Species:	C. icipe
Binomial name
Cotesia icipe Fiaboe, Fernández-Triana, Nyamu, & Agbodzavu 2017[1]

Range

Kenya (Yatta Constituency, Mwea Constituency, Kitengela, Thika,^[1] and Machakos),^[2] Madagascar,^[1] Saudi Arabia,^[1] South Africa,^[1] Yemen,^[1] and Ethiopia (Awasa (Hawassa), Jimma, and Awash-Melkasa).^[2]

Hosts

• S. exigua, a native host^[1]
• S. littoralis, a native host^[1]
• S. frugiperda^[3] - C. icipe is the primary parasitoid of the invasive agricultural pest S. frugiperda in Ethiopia, and a minor one in Kenya.^[2]