S. Rahimi Kaldeh - Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Islamic Republic of Iran.
R. Hosseini - Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Islamic Republic of Iran.
J. Hajizadeh - Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Islamic Republic of Iran.
M. M. Sohani - Department of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Islamic Republic of Iran.

All species in the genus Lysiphlebus Förster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Aphidiinae) are solitary endoparasitoids of aphids, which are one of the most difficult and unknown taxonomic groups to identify. A pair of species-specific primers as a molecular marker was designed to identify the most abundant and important aphid parasitoid wasp, L. fabarum Marshall, collected from Guilan province (Iran). This primer pair, which produces a ۱۴۸ bp fragment length, was developed for L. fabarum by using the ATPase ۶ gene region of mitochondrial DNA. The lower detection limit to amplify DNA of L. fabarum in a singleplex PCR was determined to be ۷۲ pg of parasitoid DNA/µl PCR which was enough to detect this parasitoid in early life stages within its host. The L. fabarum eggs cannot be detected within Aphis fabae Scopoli (Hemiptera: Aphididae) earlier than ۱۲ hours after oviposition. A pair of species specific primers designed for L. fabarum can be used to monitor the wasp populations under field conditions.

Aphid parasitoid wasp, ATPase ۶, Molecular marker, PCR