Intraguild interactions between two egg parasitoids of a true bug: from laboratory to field investigations

2011

Intraguild interactions can play a role in species coexistence and in sizing and shaping community structures. In addition, understanding how competitive interactions between parasitoid guilds can affect pest suppression may improve biological control. Interspecific competitive effects can be divided in “extrinsic competition”, the indirect interactions between adult females searching for or exploiting hosts, and “intrinsic competition”, the competition that occurs between larvae developing in the same host. In this work we performed both laboratory and field investigations to address on intraguild interactions occurring between Trissolcus basalis (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) and Ooencyrtus t…