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A chalcid wasp acts chiefly as a hyperparasitoid by mostly using small uncommon hosts
Author(s) -
Macedo Margarete V.,
Monteiro Ricardo F.,
da Fonseca Adriana M.,
Mayhew Peter J.
Publication year - 2014
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.12145
Subject(s) - biology , parasitoid , host (biology) , hymenoptera , sex ratio , pupa , offspring , parasitoid wasp , zoology , facultative , parasitism , botany , ecology , larva , demography , population , pregnancy , genetics , sociology
Although ovipositing insects may predominantly use resources that lead to high offspring quality, exceptions to this rule have considerably aided understanding of oviposition decisions. We report the frequency of host species use by a solitary facultative hyperparasitoid, B rachymeria subrugosa B lanchard ( H ymenoptera: C halcididae). In our samples, the wasp attacks the large pupae of the moth G onioterma indecora Z eller ( L epidoptera: E lachistidae), as well as the considerably smaller, and rarer, pupae of two of its other parasitoids. Consistent with conditional sex allocation models, the wasp produced mainly female offspring on the largest (moth) host, an unbiased sex ratio on the middle‐sized (parasitoid) host, and only males on the smallest (parasitoid) host. Adult offspring size was correlated with the size of the host attacked. These features strongly suggest that the two smaller, primary parasitoid, hosts produce lower‐quality offspring. Despite being more common, the proportion of hosts from which parasitoids emerged was lowest (14%) on the largest host species, and highest on the rarer middle‐sized (34%) and smallest (30%) hosts. This suggests that costs or constraints on attacking high‐quality primary hosts may be a selective force favouring the evolution of hyperparasitism.