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Temporary host paralysis and avoidance of self‐superparasitism in the solitary endoparasitoid Meteorus pulchricornis
Author(s) -
Chau Nguyen Ngoc Bao,
Maeto Kaoru
Publication year - 2009
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/j.1570-7458.2009.00894.x
Subject(s) - biology , lepidoptera genitalia , braconidae , spodoptera litura , noctuidae , host (biology) , parasitoid , hymenoptera , zoology , larva , botany , ecology
We suggest a new mechanism for the avoidance of self‐superparasitism by a solitary endoparasitoid of free‐living hosts. Meteorus pulchricornis (Wesmael) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a solitary larval endoparasitoid of a wide range of Lepidoptera. First, we tested the tendency to avoid multiple oviposition on Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae, examining the distribution pattern of eggs deposited in 20 hosts in 24 h. The standardized Morisita index of dispersion (Ip) for the number of eggs in a host larva was almost always below zero, and the 95% confidence limits of the means were lower than zero for both experienced and inexperienced females, indicating that parasitoids tend to avoid multiple oviposition, although not completely. Second, we observed changes in host movements (head shaking and forward movement) after oviposition and the occurrence of additional ovipositions in pre‐oviposited hosts, because a recent study indicated the necessity of visual cues provided by host movements for oviposition by this species. The incidence of host movements decreased markedly after oviposition and remained at a low level for approximately 1 h, during which time additional ovipositions were rarely observed. Temporary host paralysis after oviposition would be a new mechanism for the avoidance of self‐superparasitism in a solitary endoparasitoid using visual cues from moving hosts for oviposition.