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Parasitoid host selection behaviour has been extensively studied in experimentally simplified tritrophic systems formed by one single food chain (one plant, one herbivore and one parasitoid species). The "Mother knows best" hypothesis predicts that the preference for a plant-host complex should be positively correlated with plant quality for offspring performance. We studied the host selection behaviour of the generalist endoparasitoid  Aphidius matricariae  towards the black bean aphid  Aphis fabae  in the intercrop system including  Vicia faba  as a focal plant and its companion plant  Camelina sativa . Dual-choice laboratory bioassays revealed that parasitoid females preferred to orientate towards (1) the plant-aphid complex over the non-infested plant whatever the complex (2) the  C .  sativa-A .  fabae  complex over the  V .  faba-A .  fabae  complex. In dual choice attack rate bioassays, parasitoid females showed more interest towards the aphids on  C .  sativa  but paradoxically chose to oviposit more in aphids on  V .  faba . Ultimately, parasitoids that had developed on the  V .  faba-A .  fabae  complex exhibited better fitness parameters. By demonstrating that parasitoid females were able to discriminate the aphid host that offered the highest fitness to their offspring but selected beforehand the least suitable plant-aphid complex, we provide key insight into the disruption in their host selection behaviour potentially triggered by diverse habitats. This suggests that the "Mother knows best" hypothesis could be thwarted by increasing the complexity of the studied systems.

Aphid Parasitoid Mothers Don't Always Know Best through the Whole Host Selection Process