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Specialisation of bacterial endosymbionts that protect aphids from parasitoids
Author(s) -
ASPLEN MARK K.,
BANO NASREEN,
BRADY CRISTINA M.,
DESNEUX NICOLAS,
HOPPER KEITH R.,
MALOUINES CLARA,
OLIVER KERRY M.,
WHITE JENNIFER A.,
HEIMPEL GEORGE E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12153
Subject(s) - biology , aphis craccivora , parasitism , aphid , parasitoid , braconidae , host (biology) , botany , aphis , aphelinidae , parasitoid wasp , hymenoptera , aphididae , homoptera , ecology , pest analysis
1. Infection by the bacterial endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa is capable of protecting the pea aphid from parasitism by Aphidius ervi and the black bean aphid from parasitism by Lysiphlebus fabarum . Here we investigate protection of a third aphid species, the cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora , from four parasitoid species: Binodoxys communis , B. koreanus , Lysiphlebus orientalis, and Aphidius colemani . 2. We compared parasitism of A. craccivora lines that were either infected with, or cured of H. defensa separately for the four parasitoid species. Infection by H. defensa almost completely eliminated parasitism of A. craccivora by B. communis and B. koreanus , but had no effect on parasitism by L. orientalis and A. colemani . 3. This indicates at least genus‐level specificity of protective effects by H. defensa and we discuss implications of our findings on the known world‐wide distribution of this host/symbiont interaction.