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Suspending cocoons to evade ant predation in Meteorus pulchricornis , a braconid parasitoid of exposed‐living lepidopteran larvae
Author(s) -
SHIRAI Shunsuke,
MAETO Kaoru
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
entomological science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1479-8298
pISSN - 1343-8786
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-8298.2009.00301.x
Subject(s) - predation , biology , parasitoid , foraging , larva , braconidae , hymenoptera , ecology , zoology
We tested the hypothesis that cocoon suspension by a thread in hymenopteran parasitoids is a defense tactic against predators, by comparing predation against suspended and non‐suspended cocoons of the braconid wasp Meteorus pulchricornis on a Quercus phillyraeoides hedge on which workers of the common small ant Crematogaster matsumurai were foraging. The lost proportion of non‐suspended cocoons, which were artificially attached to leaves of Q. phillyraeoides , markedly decreased with cocoon age, indicating a critical phase of predation on young cocoons. No suspended cocoons at age 1–12 h at the beginning of exposure were lost within 12 h, whereas more than 75% of same‐aged non‐suspended cocoons were lost in the same period. Predation against such young cocoons would be a strong force driving the evolution of cocoon suspension in parasitoids of exposed‐living host insects.