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Asymmetric larval competition between two species of solitary parasitoid wasps: the influence of superparasitism
Author(s) -
MACKAUER M.,
BAI B.,
CHOW A.,
DANYK T.
Publication year - 1992
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/j.1365-2311.1992.tb01052.x
Subject(s) - biology , parasitoid , competition (biology) , aphid , zoology , larva , hymenoptera , ecology , botany
.1 We test the hypothesis that a solitary parasitoid wasp may gain in fitness if she lays more eggs in a host. 2 Using heterospecific superparasitism (=multiparasitism) between the solitary aphid parasitoids, Aphidius smithi Sharma & Subba Rao and Ephedrus californicus Baker, we show that (i) a superparasitizing female's chance that her offspring will survive competition is an increasing function of egg density, and (ii) survival among same‐aged larvae is independent of the oviposition sequence. 3 These findings on asymmetric larval competition provide indirect evidence that supports two fundamental, but untested, assumptions underlying models of adaptive superparasitism between conspecific wasps.