scholarly journals Does Host Size and Feeding Status Influence the Egg Load of Microplitis rufiventris (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)?

2011 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wedad E. Khafagi ◽  
Esmat M. Hegazi ◽  
Peter Andersson ◽  
Fredrik Schlyter
2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (5) ◽  
pp. 2112-2119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingeng Wang ◽  
Ellen M Aparicio

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.


2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 485-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESMAT MOHAMED HEGAZI ◽  
GEHAN MOHAMED ABD EL-AZIZ ◽  
AHMED YOUSEF EL-SHAZLY ◽  
WEDAD EMAM KHAFAGI

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celso L. Hohmann ◽  
Robert F. Luck

Experiments were conducted to determine whether Trichogramma platneri Nagarkatti manifested a somatic-gametic trade-off and whether it was affected by host availability and host size. Large wasps produced on Trichoplusia ni Hübner and limited to five or 15 T. ni eggs daily, produced a similar number of progeny as wasps offered hosts from emergence. Similar results were obtained when they were deprived of T. ni eggs for one, three, five, or ten days and then provided with unlimited hosts daily until death. In contrast, small wasps produced from Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) and deprived of T. ni eggs for one to three days suffered a significant reduction in progeny production. Regardless of size, the egg load of non-ovipositing wasps increased significantly with time and a positive relationship existed between the life span of a female and the length of time she was deprived of hosts.


2003 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
pp. 737-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherah L. VanLaerhoven ◽  
Fred M. Stephen

As early as 1844, it was stated that the size of the host may influence the size of parasitoid adults (Ratzeburg 1844) and that parasitoid size may affect fecundity (Salt 1941). Although positive relationships between host and parasitoid body size have been supported in the literature (Tillman and Cate 1993; Heimpel and Rosenheim 1995), this relationship is not universal to all host–parasitoid systems (King 1991; Morse 1994). Although the relationship between host size and body size of parasitoid adults has been observed for some bark beetle parasitoids (Bushing 1967; Samson 1984), the relationship between body size and fecundity has not been studied for bark beetle parasitoids. Roptrocerus xylophagorum Ratzeburg (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a bark beetle parasitoid with a wide host range that includes beetles in the genera Dendroctonus, Ips, and Scolytus (Bushing 1967).


2000 ◽  
Vol 156 (6) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Ellers ◽  
Sevenster ◽  
Driessen
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Pool ◽  
Clara Romero-Rubira ◽  
Juan Antonio Raga ◽  
Mercedes Fernández ◽  
Francisco Javier Aznar

Abstract Background Current data about Pseudaliidae show contrasting patterns of host specificity between congeneric species. We investigated how both contact and compatibility between hosts and parasites contributed to the patterns of lungworm infection observed in a community of five species of cetaceans in the western Mediterranean. Methods The lungs of 119 striped dolphins Stenella coeruleoalba, 18 bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus, 7 Risso’s dolphins Grampus griseus, 7 long-finned pilot whales Globicephala melas, and 6 common dolphins Delphinus delphis were analysed for lungworms. Parasites were identified by morphology and analysis of ITS2 sequences using both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. Body length was used as a proxy for lungworm species fitness in different hosts and compared with Kruskal-Wallis tests. Infection parameters were compared between cetacean species using Fisher’s exact tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Phylogenetic specificity was explored by collating the overall lungworm species prevalence values in hosts from previous surveys in various localities. To explore the relative importance of vertical and horizontal transmission, Spearman’s rank correlation was used to look for an association between host size and lungworm burden. A Mantel test was used to explore the association between lungworm species similarity and prey overlap using dietary data. Results Halocercus delphini had higher infection levels in striped dolphins and common dolphins; Stenurus ovatus had higher infection levels in bottlenose dolphins; and Stenurus globicephalae had higher infection levels in long-finned pilot whales. These results are congruent with findings on a global scale. Morphometric comparison showed that the larger nematodes were found in the same host species that had the highest parasite burden. Lungworms were found in neonatal striped dolphins and a Risso’s dolphin, and there was a weak but significant correlation between host size and parasite burden in striped dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. There was also a weak but significant association between prey overlap and lungworm species similarity. Conclusions Data indicate that phylogenetic specificity has an important role in governing host–parasite associations, as indicated by the higher infection levels and larger nematode size in certain hosts. However, diet can also influence infection patterns in these preferred hosts and contribute to less severe infections in other hosts.


Author(s):  
Kent M. Daane ◽  
Xingeng Wang ◽  
Brian N. Hogg ◽  
Antonio Biondi

AbstractAsobara japonica (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Ganaspis brasiliensis and Leptopilina japonica (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) are Asian larval parasitoids of spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae). This study evaluated these parasitoids’ capacity to attack and develop from 24 non-target drosophilid species. Results showed that all three parasitoids were able to parasitize host larvae of multiple non-target species in artificial diet; A. japonica developed from 19 tested host species, regardless of the phylogenetic position of the host species, L. japonica developed from 11 tested species; and G. brasiliensis developed from only four of the exposed species. Success rate of parasitism (i.e., the probability that an adult wasp successfully emerged from a parasitized host) by the two figitid parasitoids was low in hosts other than the three species in the melanogaster group (D. melanogaster, D. simulans, and D. suzukii). The failure of the figitids to develop in most of the tested host species appears to correspond with more frequent encapsulation of the parasitoids by the hosts. The results indicate that G. brasiliensis is the most host specific to D. suzukii, L. japonica attacks mainly species in the melanogaster group and A. japonica is a generalist, at least physiologically. Overall, the developmental time of the parasitoids increased with the host’s developmental time. The body size of female A. japonica (as a model species) was positively related to host size, and mature egg load of female wasps increased with female body size. We discuss the use of these parasitoids for classical biological control of D. suzukii.


Plant Ecology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 195 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizanne Roxburgh ◽  
Sue W. Nicolson
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Jonathan P. Ubaldo ◽  
Takahiro Nanri ◽  
Yoshitake Takada ◽  
Masayuki Saigusa

A population of the mud shrimp, Upogebia major, inhabiting Kasaoka Inlet had a higher frequency of intersex males compared to other populations in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. This population also featured a high prevalence of the branchial epicaridean parasite, Gyge ovalis, and inhabited a tidal flat characterized by increasingly softer sediments going into the lower tidal areas. We examined the rates at which infection co-occurred with intersex features and checked whether infection patterns varied with intersex occurrence according to host size and tidal level position. Fewer specimens were both intersex and infected than those having only one of either condition; infection was not a significant predictor of intersex. However, infection in young hosts that recovered from the parasite could be associated with the intersex morphologies and account for the majority of cases that were intersex but parasite-free. Deletions of the cuticular ridge (CRD) between the first and second abdominal segment and tidal level position were correlated with intersex. Lower tidal zone mud shrimp were, respectively, three and four times more likely to be intersex and exhibit CRD than those in the upper tidal zone. Potentially inclusive factors that may influence these trends are higher rates of early infection and increased exposure to sediment-bound pollutants in mud shrimp inhabiting the lower tidal areas.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document