Comparative Studies on Foraging Behaviour of Two Aphid Parasitoid Species Attacking the Same Host Species on a Plant

Understanding how nest parasites contribute to brood mortality rates in host species is an important step towards uncovering the potential implications for host behaviour. This can be especially important for understanding the evolution of social living, where defence against parasites is often posited as a major benefit of cooperative nesting. Only two parasitoid species have previously been reported for the only known social colletid bee, Amphylaeus morosus: the gasteruptiid wasp, Gasteruption primotarsale, and the mutillid, Ephutomorpha tyla. Here we report six additional parasitoid species of A. morosus: the gasteruptiid wasps G. atrinerve, G. globiceps, G. melanopoda and G. cinerescens; the bombyliid fly Anthrax maculatus; and the mutillid wasp Ephutomorpha aff. varipes. The mechanisms of parasitism for these eight parasitoid species are described in combination with how they operate throughout the host brood rearing period and whether benefits of social nesting vary across the season.

Download Full-text

Trioxys liui Chou & Chou, 1993 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae): an invasive aphid parasitoid attacking invasive Takecallis species (Hemiptera, Aphididae) in the Iberian Peninsula

ZooKeys ◽

10.3897/zookeys.944.51395 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 944 ◽

pp. 99-114 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ehsan Rakhshani ◽

Jose Michelena Saval ◽

Nicolas Pérez Hidalgo ◽

Xavier Pons ◽

Nickolas G. Kavallieratos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Material ◽

Local Environment ◽

Undescribed Species ◽

Parasitoid Species ◽

Long Distance ◽

New Host ◽

Aphid Parasitoid ◽

New Association ◽

Bamboo Plant ◽

Accidental Introduction

Biological invasion of aphids and other insects has been increased due to long distance commercial transportation of plant material. The bamboo-aphid-parasitoid association is strictly specific and even though it does not develop interactions with the local environment it should be listed as part of the fauna of southwestern Europe. On-going research regarding aphids and their aphidiine parasitoids in Spain has yielded a new association of Trioxys liui Chou & Chou, 1993 with an undescribed species of Takecallis aphids on bamboo, Phyllostachys spp. Here we present the first association of T. liui with aphids of the genus Takecallis that attack bamboos. Trioxys liui is known as a parasitoid of Cranaphis formosana (Takahashi, 1924) and Phyllaphoides bambusicola Takahashi, 1921 on bamboos in China and Russia. The accidental introduction of this parasitoid species to southwestern Europe has been probably realized through transportation of contaminated bamboo plant material. In the current study, a new host association is recorded for T. liui. Its potential to invade other bamboo-associated aphids and the significance of the tritrophic bamboo-aphid-parasitoid interactions in the new environments are also discussed.

Download Full-text

CONSPECIFIC SUPERPARASITISM IN TWO PARASITOID WASPS, APHIDIUS ERVI HALIDAY AND APHELINUS ASYCHIS WALKER: REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES INFLUENCE HOST DISCRIMINATION

The Canadian Entomologist ◽

10.4039/ent1231229-6 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 123 (6) ◽

pp. 1229-1237 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

B. Bai

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Strategies ◽

Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽

Aphidius Ervi ◽

Parasitoid Wasps ◽

Host Discrimination ◽

Larval Competition ◽

Parasitoid Species ◽

Aphid Parasitoid ◽

Aphelinus Asychis ◽

Physiological Suppression

AbstractConspecific host discrimination and larval competition in two aphid parasitoid species were studied in the laboratory using the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Homoptera: Aphididae), as a host. Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) used internal host cues to discriminate between unparasitized and conspecific parasitized hosts. When only parasitized hosts were available, females oviposited into recently parasitized ones where their progeny had a good chance to survive, but rejected those parasitized ≥24 h earlier where their offspring normally died. Competitions occurred only after both eggs had hatched. Larvae eliminated supernumeraries by means of physical combat and physiological suppression. In Aphelinus asychis Walker (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), factors, or changes in host internal condition, associated with hatching of the first egg resulted in suppression of conspecific competitors which could be in either larval or egg stage. The older larvae always won competitions through physiological means. A wasp’s oviposition decision is shown to be influenced by the probability of its progeny’s survival. Species that have different reproductive strategies may respond differently to identical host conditions.

Download Full-text

Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae) from Slovenia, with descrip-tion of a new Aphidius species

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.3456.1.2 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 3456 (1) ◽

pp. 36 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

KATARINA KOS ◽

STANISLAV TRDAN ◽

ANDJELJKO PETROVIĆ ◽

PETR STARÝ ◽

NICKOLAS G. KAVALLIERATOS ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Host Plants ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Mediterranean Species ◽

Parasitoid Species ◽

Eastern Deciduous Forest ◽

Aphid Parasitoid ◽

Faunal Complexes ◽

Far Eastern ◽

First Time ◽

Tamarix Gallica

Over the period 2006–2010, 40 species of primary parasitoids belonging to eleven genera were found and reared from 50 species of host aphids, from a total of 106 host plants collected from 62 localities all around Slovenia. Over 230 tritrophic associations have been reviewed, including four associations which are reported for the first time; Ephedrus plagiator/ Staticobium limonii/ Limonium angustifolium, Praon necans/ Staticobium limonii/ Limonium angustifolium, Aphidius sussi/Delphinobium sp./Aconitum maximum and Ephedrus persicae/Brachyunguis tamaricis/ Tamarix gallica. The parasitoid species from Slovenia have been grouped in seven faunal complexes according to their origin, e.g. 11 species from European deciduous forest, 3 species from Far Eastern deciduous forest, 20 species from Eurasian Steppes, 1 Mediterranean species, 2 species from Holarctic Forest Tundra, 2 species from Boreal Europe, and 1 Nearctic species. Also, a new aphid parasitoid species Aphidius staticobii sp.n. Tomanović and Petrović has been described from the association Staticobium limonii/ Limonium angustifolium.

Download Full-text

HYMENOPTERA OF THE WAGNER NATURAL AREA, A BOREAL SPRING FEN IN CENTRAL ALBERTA

Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada ◽

10.4039/entm126169181-1 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 126 (S169) ◽

pp. 181-220 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Albert T. Finnamore

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Host Species ◽

Habitat Structure ◽

Natural Area ◽

Parasitoid Species ◽

Boreal Spring ◽

Arthropod Fauna ◽

Pan Traps ◽

Malaise Traps ◽

Spring Fen

AbstractThe Wagner Natural Area, located 8 km west of Edmonton, Alberta (53°34′N 113°47′W), contains a boreal spring fen estimated to be 4700 years old. The site was selected in 1985 for a survey of its arthropod fauna. A transect of the site from marl pools through fen, edge effect, and treed swamp was sampled for arthropods using pan and Malaise traps. Specialized microhabitats outside the transect were identified and sampled using pan traps. The Wagner fen samples contain 2181 species of arthropods contributing to a total known biota of 2905 species in the peatland. Of those, 1410 are Hymenoptera. Although seven other peatland studies are known, the inability of systematists to name most species prevents direct comparisons among peatlands. Data obtained from the Hymenoptera collections at Wagner demonstrate a progression in species richness as one approaches the forest–fen edge from either fen or forest. A large proportion [30% (382 species)] of Hymenoptera species, termed the aerial component, is active both in the forest–fen edge and in the fen. The aerial component is a highly mobile, at least locally transient, but often uncollected component of peatland ecosystems. Presence of the aerial component is probably associated with habitat structure. Those peatlands possessing more complex vegetation architecture have greater proportions of aerial species. About 80% of Hymenoptera at Wagner are parasitoids, most of which attack larva of holometabolous hosts. Based on the host groups sought by parasitoids and the ratio of parasitoid species per host species, the fen is estimated to contain about 6000 species of arthropods.

Download Full-text

Response To Kairomones By Some Alysiine and Eucoilid Parasitoid Species (Hymenoptera)

Netherlands Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1163/002829685x00343 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 486-496 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Louise E.M. Vet

Keyword(s):

Host Species ◽

Host Location ◽

Water Soluble ◽

Parasitoid Species ◽

Larval Parasitoids

Larval parasitoids of frugivorous Drosophila as well as related parasitoid species that attack Drosophila or Fannia species in mushrooms use water soluble larval kairomones in host location. Parasitoids of fungivorous flies allocate more searching time to patches containing a filtrate of mushrooms infested with host larvae compared to patches with a filtrate of uninfested mushrooms. Filtrates of mushrooms infested with a non-host species do not increase their searching time. Studies with parasitoids of frugivorous Drosophila showed that the ability to recognize kairomone is acquired through learning. Females without oviposition experience do not respond differently to patches with and without kairomone. Parasitoids that had learned the kairomone of one drosophilid host species also recognized the kairomone of another host species, which suggests that kairomones from Drosophilidae may be similar.

Download Full-text