Determination of Pediobius sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), A New Species Record of Endoparasitoid Associate with Beet Armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidea) from Malaysia using DNA Barcode

Spodoptera exigua (lepidoptera: noctuidea) is a polyphagous pest that attacks many important agricultural crops. identifying an insect specimen is a crucial step in entomology. this study demonstrated a molecular method to identify the species of pest and its parasitoid in the case of a lack of a morphological identification key. to facilitate the identification of these pest-parasitoid species, a dna barcoding approach was used for accurate and time-consuming identification based on nucleotide sequencing analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit i (coi) gene. dna barcoding sequences successfully identified both pest and parasitoid species by comparing barcode sequences to the genbank database. this study provided evidence of pediobius sp. as a parasitoid of s. exigua in malaysia.