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Sex ratio dynamics of G onatocerus ashmeadi , a parasitoid of the glassy‐winged sharpshooter in C alifornia
Author(s) -
Lytle John,
Kapranas A.,
Morgan D.J.W.,
Nichols J.M.,
Morse J.G.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1111/eea.12013
Subject(s) - parasitoid , biology , parasitism , sex ratio , context (archaeology) , host (biology) , statistics , ecology , demography , mathematics , population , paleontology , sociology
We examined whether G onatocerus ashmeadi G irault ( H ymenoptera: M ymaridae), a quasi‐gregarious egg parasitoid of H omalodisca vitripennis ( G ermar) ( H emiptera: C icadellidae), produces precise sex ratios under a field setting. Under laboratory conditions, previous studies have shown that G . ashmeadi exhibits strongly female‐biased sex ratios with low variance in the number of males produced per host. Field‐collected G . ashmeadi tend to produce much less female‐biased sex ratios with high variance in male numbers. We found significant positive effects of proportion parasitism and host density on sex ratio. Proportion parasitism also had a positive effect on sex ratio variance. The findings of this study are discussed in the context of theoretical predictions.