scholarly journals Effects of adult age and body size on egg maturation in the parasitoid Gronotoma micromorpha (Hymenoptera: Figitidae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 ◽  
pp. 364-367
Author(s):  
Yajiao WU ◽  
Yoshihisa ABE
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Egg Maturation

Ovigeny strategy of the parasitic wasp Cosmocomoidea annulicornis (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae): effect of female age, feeding and host availability on reproductive traits

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Carolina Manzano ◽  
Eduardo G. Virla ◽  
Maria V. Coll Araoz ◽  
Erica Luft-Albarracin
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Parasitic Wasp ◽  
Reproductive Potential ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Egg Load ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Potential Fecundity ◽  
Female Age ◽  
Host Availability ◽  
Egg Maturation

Abstract The reproductive traits of the mymarid wasp Cosmocomoidea annulicornis (Ogloblin) (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) attacking eggs of the sharpshooter Tapajosa rubromarginata (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) were evaluated under laboratory conditions. Bioassays were carried out to estimate the realized fecundity and egg load of females. The ovigeny index was calculated and different biological traits, such as body size, oöcyte length, gaster length and wing length, were analysed to assess significant associations between these traits and the species fitness. In addition, the effect of host availability and feeding on longevity and potential fecundity throughout life and the effect of female age on egg maturation dynamics were assessed. The results showed that C. annulicornis is a strongly synovigenic species. A positive correlation was found between fecundity and longevity of the females and between body size and oöcyte length. Contrary to expected, body size was not related to fecundity and longevity. Females lived significantly longer in the presence of hosts and honey than when they were host-deprived and honey-fed or both host and honey deprived. Host availability had a significant effect on the amount of eggs laid by C. annulicornis females. Female age was negatively associated with oöcyte length. Furthermore, females were able to mature additional eggs as they aged, nevertheless, when host-deprived, senescent females presented significantly less mature eggs than younger ones, suggesting a possible egg oosorption. These results might contribute to a better understanding of the reproductive potential of this species as a biocontrol agent.

scholarly journals Reproductive Traits of Ontsira mellipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a North American Parasitoid, as a Novel Biological Control Agent for Exotic Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (5) ◽  
pp. 2112-2119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingeng Wang ◽  
Ellen M Aparicio
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Biological Control Agent ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Control Agent ◽  
Host Size ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Egg Load ◽  
Anoplophora Glabripennis ◽  
Asian Longhorned Beetle ◽  
Egg Maturation

Abstract Ontsira mellipes Ashmead is a gregarious larval ectoparasitoid of woodboring cerambycids that is native to North America but can readily attack the exotic Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky). To evaluate the potential of the parasitoid as a novel association control agent for the pest beetle, this study investigated some key reproductive traits of the parasitoid, including egg maturation dynamics, and host size preference and suitability in association with the beetle. Results showed that female wasps emerged with a substantial portion (38%) of their lifetime complement of mature eggs and matured eggs rapidly, reaching a peak 4–6 d post-eclosion. The number of mature eggs was positively related to the female wasp’s body size. Oviposition prompted production of more mature eggs by young female wasps. The parasitoid did not show a significant preference for large over small hosts in a choice test. Host size did not affect the parasitoid’s offspring survival, developmental time, or sex ratio. However, clutch size increased with increasing host size. Female wasps that developed from large hosts had larger body size and consequently a higher mature egg load than those reared from small hosts. Neither longevity nor the total number of parasitized hosts over a female’s lifetime was affected by the female’s size, but the total number of offspring produced per female increased with the female’s size. These results have important implications for improving rearing and field-release strategies as well as understanding the ecological mechanisms underlying host size selection in gregarious parasitoids.

Two Amblystogeniuln Species (Col. Carabidae) Co-Existing on the Subantarctic Possession Island, Crozet Islands

1972 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis Davies
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Surface Activity ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Species Comparison ◽  
Larval Life ◽  
Density Estimates ◽  
Egg Maturation ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Total Life

AbstractPit-fall trapping in fell-field habitat at about I00 m a.s. on the sub-antarctic Possession Island, Crozet Islands, showed that surface activity in Amblystogenium minimum Luff (Carabidae) fell suddenly to low levels after mating was largely completed in mid-February. In A. pacificum (Putzeys) also a fall in activity occurred at the same time but this species continued limited activity into late autumn. Both species are autumn breeders, with the last named continuing some egg maturation into the winter. A. minimum of smaller body size had ripe oocytes of smaller mean length than the larger A. pacificum which occurred as brown and black coloured adults. Collecting-out of areas of known size when the two species co-existed gave the following density estimates /m2: on stone and gravel ground about 0.7, and on rock pavement of 2.3 of each species. Comparison of pit-fall trapped samples with that of hand collected material suggest that A. minimum showed no differences between the sexes in overall activity, while in A. pacificum males were more active than females. The latter, larger species was more active than the smaller A. minimum. Limited larval material together with the occurrence of teneral adults in low numbers in February-April suggest an unsynchronized larval life lasting a year or more, and unsynchronized emergence in late summer and autumn of adults that do not breed until the following late summer, so that the total life cycle takes two years or more.

A skeletochronological estimation of age structure of a population of the paddy frog, Fejervarya multistriata, from the central east of China

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-113
Author(s):  
Lixia Zhang ◽  
Yongsun Sheng ◽  
Xiangyu Yuan ◽  
Xueting Zhong ◽  
Xiaohong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Age Structure ◽  
Age Determination ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Study Population ◽  
The Mean ◽  
One Year

Abstract Age determination is crucial for a full understanding of population dynamics. In this context, we studied the age structure of the paddy frog, Fejervarya multistriata, in a population from the central east of China, using a skeletochronological method. The lines of arrested growth in the phalanges were distinct, and each line was assumed to represent one year of age. Ages ranged between one and four years for adult males and two and four years for adult females. No significant difference was observed in the mean adult age between the sexes. In addition, a significant relationship between age and body size within each sex was detected. Results of ANCOVA analysis suggested a significant difference in body size between sexes when the effect of age was removed. The von-Bertalanffy model showed that females had a larger asymptotic body size than males, and the growth rate of females was higher than that of males. Therefore, the growth rate is a major factor underlying body size patterns in both sexes of F. multistriata in the study population.

scholarly journals A Comparative Analysis of the Diets of a Genus of Freshwater Turtles across Africa

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Luca Luiselli ◽  
Gift Simon Demaya ◽  
John Sebit Benansio ◽  
Fabio Petrozzi ◽  
Godfrey C. Akani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Diet Composition ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Animal Origin ◽  
Freshwater Turtles ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Positive Effects

Pelusios (Testudines: Pleurodira) is an Afrotropical endemic genus of freshwater turtles that have adapted to a variety of habitats, with savannahs and forests being their two main habitat types. Although considered generally carnivorous, these turtles have rarely been subjected to detailed field surveys for determining their quantitative diet. In this paper, by using both the literature and original data, we analyze the diet of several Pelusios populations: three P. adansonii populations from South Sudan, one P. nanus from Zambia, seven P. castaneus from Nigeria, Benin and Togo, and four P. niger from Nigeria. All species were omnivorous but with a clear preponderance of the prey items being of animal origin (e.g., amphibians, fish, arthropods and annelids). Saturation curves revealed that the diet composition of all the surveyed populations was adequately assessed, and the diversity profiles indicated that all the populations were relatively similar in terms of overall dietary diversity. General Linear Models (GLM) showed a negative effect of vegetation cover on Anura adult consumption by turtles, and showed that the frequencies of Anura tadpoles, fish, reptiles and birds on Pelusios diets increased with the increase in vegetation cover. The GLM model also showed positive effects of individual body size on algae, Bivalvia, reptiles, birds and small mammal consumption by turtles, and underlined that the predation on Arachnida decreased with the increase in turtle body size. In all species, there were no significant intersexual dietary differences, whereas there were substantial ontogenetic dietary changes in three out of four species. Small-sized individuals of P. castaneus, P. niger and P. adansonii tended to feed mainly upon insects, with the adults also taking many fish and adult frogs, and in the case of P. niger, also birds and small mammals. Conversely, in P. nanus, the diet composition did not vary substantially from the juvenile to the adult age. All species appeared substantially generalist in terms of their diet composition, although the effects of season (wet versus dry) were not adequately assessed by our study.

Egg-size manipulations in the seed beetle Stator limbatus: consequences for progeny growth

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 1465-1473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Female Progeny ◽  
Seed Beetle ◽  
Cause And Effect ◽  
Egg Maturation ◽  
Stator Limbatus

Studies that have demonstrated consequences of variation in egg size for progeny growth and development are often confounded by genetic correlations among life-history characters; relationships between egg size and progeny life-history characters do not always reflect cause and effect. Thus, experimental approaches to manipulating egg size in order to quantify the consequences of egg-size variation for progeny growth and development have been developed. I used egg-size plasticity in response to oviposition environment to manipulate egg size in a seed beetle, Stator limbatus, to test the hypothesis that progeny developing from larger eggs survive better, develop faster, and attain a larger adult body size than progeny developing from smaller eggs. Females exposed to Cercidium floridum during egg maturation laid eggs that were substantially larger than those laid by females exposed to Acacia greggii during egg maturation. The larger eggs laid by females exposed to C. floridum took significantly longer to hatch but had shorter total egg-to-adult development times than eggs laid by females exposed to A. greggii (when reared to adulthood on A. greggii). There was no evidence from the between-treatment comparisons that egg size affected egg-to-adult survivorship or the size at which progeny emerged as adults. Within-treatment correlations between egg size and progeny life-history characters were generally consistent with the between-treatment analyses, except that female progeny developing from larger eggs tended to emerge as larger adults than female progeny developing from smaller eggs. This result is interpreted as a consequence of heritable variation in body size rather than a cause-and-effect relationship between egg size and progeny body size.

Attachment and Field Dependence: Individual Differences in Information Processing

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Vermigli ◽  
Alessandro Toni
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Field Dependence ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Figure Test ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Measure Field

The present research analyzes the relationship between attachment styles at an adult age and field dependence in order to identify possible individual differences in information processing. The “Experience in Close Relationships” test of Brennan et al. was administered to a sample of 380 individuals (160 males, 220 females), while a subsample of 122 subjects was given the Embedded Figure Test to measure field dependence. Confirming the starting hypothesis, the results have shown that individuals with different attachment styles have a different way of perceiving the figure against the background. Ambivalent and avoidant individuals lie at the two extremes of the same dimension while secure individuals occupy the central part. Significant differences also emerged between males and females.

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