Previous Interspecific Courtship Impairs Female Receptivity to Conspecifics in the Parasitoid Wasp Nasonia longicornis But Not in N. vitripennis

Interspecific sexual interactions are not uncommon in animals. In sympatry, females often face the risk of accidentally mating with a heterospecific male. Based on the actual risks imposed by the environment at a given time and place, females should be able to adjust their mate acceptance in order to avoid interspecific copulations as well as accidentally refusing to mate with a conspecific. We investigate the ability of females of the two parasitoid wasp species Nasonia vitripennis (Nv) and N. longicornis (Nl) to adjust their mate acceptance in response to previous unsuccessful courtship by heterospecific males. We show that Nl females are more reluctant to mate with a conspecific male when having been courted previously by a heterospecific male, but Nv females are not. We argue that this strategy is reasonable for Nl females but not for Nv females, which follow a different strategy to avoid the fitness costs imposed by heterospecific copulations.

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Sight of parasitoid wasps accelerates sexual behavior and upregulates a micropeptide gene in Drosophila

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-22712-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Shimaa A. M. Ebrahim ◽

Gaëlle J. S. Talross ◽

John R. Carlson

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Nervous System ◽

Sexual Behavior ◽

Behavioral Response ◽

Mutational Analysis ◽

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Parasitoid Wasps ◽

Wasp Species ◽

Defensive Responses ◽

Vast Range

AbstractParasitoid wasps inflict widespread death upon the insect world. Hundreds of thousands of parasitoid wasp species kill a vast range of insect species. Insects have evolved defensive responses to the threat of wasps, some cellular and some behavioral. Here we find an unexpected response of adult Drosophila to the presence of certain parasitoid wasps: accelerated mating behavior. Flies exposed to certain wasp species begin mating more quickly. The effect is mediated via changes in the behavior of the female fly and depends on visual perception. The sight of wasps induces the dramatic upregulation in the fly nervous system of a gene that encodes a 41-amino acid micropeptide. Mutational analysis reveals that the gene is essential to the behavioral response of the fly. Our work provides a foundation for further exploration of how the activation of visual circuits by the sight of a wasp alters both sexual behavior and gene expression.

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The effect of exposure to conspecifics on restlessness in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

The Canadian Entomologist ◽

10.4039/n06-109 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 139 (5) ◽

pp. 678-684 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

B.H. King

Keyword(s):

Habitat Quality ◽

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Poor Quality ◽

The Other ◽

Dispersal Ability ◽

Nasonia Vitripennis ◽

Adult Females ◽

Selection For ◽

The Difference ◽

Abundance And Distribution

AbstractWhen habitat quality is variable, there should be strong selection for the ability to detect and respond to the variation. Adult females of the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) are known to increase their restlessness (the proportion of time in locomotion) both during and after exposure to a poor quality host. Doing so provides a mechanism for leaving a poor host and potentially finding a better host. This study examined whether restlessness also changes in response to competition as indicated by the presence of adult conspecifics. Both restlessness and the probability of dispersing across an inhospitable environment were greater when a female was with another female than when she was alone. However, restlessness did not remain elevated after the other female was removed. In contrast with females, restlessness of males did not increase either during or after exposure to other males, and the probability of dispersing across an inhospitable environment was unaffected by the presence of another male. The difference between females and males may be related to differences in dispersal ability and in the abundance and distribution of hosts versus mates.

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Extensive zygotic control of the anteroposterior axis in the wasp Nasonia vitripennis

Development ◽

10.1242/dev.126.4.701 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 126 (4) ◽

pp. 701-710 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

M.A. Pultz ◽

J.N. Pitt ◽

N.M. Alto

Keyword(s):

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Axis Formation ◽

Gene Products ◽

Nasonia Vitripennis ◽

Anteroposterior Patterning ◽

Lethal Mutations ◽

Gap Genes ◽

Maternal Gene ◽

Zygotic Control ◽

Zygotic Genome

Insect axis formation is best understood in Drosophila melanogaster, where rapid anteroposterior patterning of zygotic determinants is directed by maternal gene products. The earliest zygotic control is by gap genes, which determine regions of several contiguous segments and are largely conserved in insects. We have asked genetically whether early zygotic patterning genes control similar anteroposterior domains in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis as in Drosophila. Nasonia is advantageous for identifying and studying recessive zygotic lethal mutations because unfertilized eggs develop as males while fertilized eggs develop as females. Here we describe recessive zygotic mutations identifying three Nasonia genes: head only mutant embryos have posterior defects, resembling loss of both maternal and zygotic Drosophila caudal function; headless mutant embryos have anterior and posterior gap defects, resembling loss of both maternal and zygotic Drosophila hunchback function; squiggy mutant embryos develop only four full trunk segments, a phenotype more severe than those caused by lack of Drosophila maternal or zygotic terminal gene functions. These results indicate greater dependence on the zygotic genome to control early patterning in Nasonia than in the fly.

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Oviposition but Not Sex Allocation Is Associated with Transcriptomic Changes in Females of the Parasitoid Wasp Nasonia vitripennis

G3 Genes|Genome|Genetics ◽

10.1534/g3.115.021220 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (12) ◽

pp. 2885-2892 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nicola Cook ◽

Urmi Trivedi ◽

Bart A. Pannebakker ◽

Mark Blaxter ◽

Michael G. Ritchie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sex Allocation ◽

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Nasonia Vitripennis ◽

Transcriptomic Changes

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Maternally Inherited Sex Ratio in the Parasitoid Wasp Nasonia vitripennis

Science ◽

10.1126/science.215.4536.1133 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 215 (4536) ◽

pp. 1133-1134 ◽

Cited By ~ 64

Author(s):

S. W. SKINNER

Keyword(s):

Sex Ratio ◽

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Nasonia Vitripennis

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Exploring the potential of genetic improvement of insects : a case study using the haplodiploid parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis

10.18174/518107 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Shuwen Xia

Keyword(s):

Genetic Improvement ◽

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Nasonia Vitripennis

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A new species of Hexacola Foerster (Hymenoptera: Figitidae), parasitoid of Lemnaphila neotropica Lizarralde de Grosso (Diptera: Ephydridae)

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.2622.1.2 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2622 (1) ◽

pp. 42 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

ANA L. GADDI ◽

NORMA B. DÍAZ ◽

FABIANA E. GALLARDO

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Buenos Aires ◽

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Economic Importance ◽

Wasp Species ◽

Diagnostic Characters ◽

La Plata ◽

Shore Fly ◽

A New Species

A new parasitoid wasp species, the eucoiline Hexacola lemnaphilae Gaddi & Díaz, is described. Specimens were reared from pupae of Lemnaphila neotropica Lizarralde de Grosso (Diptera: Ephydridae), a shore fly that mines least duckweed, Lemna minuta Kunth (Lemnaceae); the material examined was collected in Berisso (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and is housed in the collection of the División Entomología of the Museo de La Plata, Argentina. Photographs of diagnostic characters and data about the ecological and economic importance of these organisms are included.

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