Search results for "wasps"
showing 10 items of 71 documents
Impact of parasitoid-associated polydnaviruses on plant-mediated herbivore interactions
2022
Insect herbivores interact via plant-mediated interactions in which one herbivore species induces changes in plant quality that affects the performance of a second phytophagous insect that shares the food plant. These interactions are often asymmetric due to specificity in induced plant responses to herbivore attack, amount of plant damage, elicitors in herbivore saliva and plant organ damaged by herbivores. Parasitoids and their symbiotic polydnaviruses alter herbivore physiology and behaviour and may influence how plants respond to parasitized herbivores. We argue that these phenomena affect plant-mediated interactions between herbivores. We identify that the extended phenotype of parasit…
Horizontally transmitted parasitoid killing factor shapes insect defense to parasitoids
2021
Protection from parasitism by a virus Parasitoid wasps have developed myriad systems to overcome the defense mechanisms of their hosts as they lay their eggs in the bodies and eggs of targeted species. Gasmi et al . report how the host can fight back when infected by a virus that expresses a protein conferring resistance to the parasitoid. When members of the butterfly and moth family are targeted by wasps, a protein family has evolved that is horizontally carried by viruses—and sometimes is incorporated into the host genome—and impairs the ability of parasitoid offspring to fully develop and emerge. Characterizing the ability of this protein to protect hosts against specific parasites, the…
Contrasting reproductive traits of competing parasitoids facilitate coexistence on a shared host pest in a biological control perspective
2022
BACKGROUND: Interspecific competition in insect parasitoids is an important ecological phenomenon that has relevant implications for biological pest control. To date, interspecific intrinsic (=larval) competition has been intensively studied, while investigations on extrinsic (=adult) competition have often lagged behind. In this study we examined the role played by parasitoid reproductive traits and host clutch size on the outcome of extrinsic competition between Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) and Ooencyrtus telenomicida (Vassiliev), two egg parasitoids of the pest Nezara viridula (L). Laboratory experiments were conducted by allowing both parasitoid species to exploit an egg mass made of …
High Temperatures Result in Smaller Nurseries which Lower Reproduction of Pollinators and Parasites in a Brood Site Pollination Mutualism
2014
In a nursery pollination mutualism, we asked whether environmental factors affected reproduction of mutualistic pollinators, non-mutualistic parasites and seed production via seasonal changes in plant traits such as inflorescence size and within-tree reproductive phenology. We examined seasonal variation in reproduction in Ficus racemosa community members that utilise enclosed inflorescences called syconia as nurseries. Temperature, relative humidity and rainfall defined four seasons: winter; hot days, cold nights; summer and wet seasons. Syconium volumes were highest in winter and lowest in summer, and affected syconium contents positively across all seasons. Greater transpiration from the…
Rediscovery of Cerroneuroterus apenninus (Trotter, 1923) (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) a valid species from Italy with description and neotype d…
2021
Neuroterus apenninus Trotter, 1923 associated with a Cerris section oak, Quercus cerris L., was rediscovered in Italy in 2017. Alessandro Trotter (1903) described a leaf gall collected on Q. cerris from the Italian Apennines; he did not obtain the gall inductor and ascribed the galls to the genus Neuroterus, based on morphological similarity with other Neuroterus galls. We have found the same gall and obtained the gall inducer. Detailed study of morphological characters of adults revealed that the species belongs to the genus Cerroneuroterus Melika & Pujade-Villar, 2010. The asexual generation of Cerroneuroterus apenninus comb. n. is described for the first time, a neotype is designated…
Neonicotinoids from coated seeds toxic for honeydew-feeding biological control agents
2021
Seed coating (‘seed treatment’) is the leading delivery method of neonicotinoid insecticides in major crops such as soybean, wheat, cotton and maize. However, this prophylactic use of neonicotinoids is widely discussed from the standpoint of environmental costs. Growing soybean plants from neonicotinoid-coated seeds in field, we demonstrate that soybean aphids (Aphis glycines) survived the treatment, and excreted honeydew containing neonicotinoids. Biochemical analyses demonstrated that honeydew excreted by the soybean aphid contained substantial concentrations of neonicotinoids even one month after sowing of the crop. Consuming this honeydew reduced the longevity of two biological control …
Cynipid wasps inducing galls on plants of the genus Picris (Asteraceae) in Europe, with a description of a new species of Phanacis Foerster (Hymenopt…
2008
13 paginas y 8 figuras
Mapping candidate genes for Drosophila melanogaster resistance to the parasitoid wasp Leptopilina boulardi.
2006
Drosophila melanogaster resistance against the parasitoid wasp Leptopilina boulardi is under the control of a single gene (Rlb), with two alleles, the resistant one being dominant. Using strains bearing deletions, we previously demonstrated that the 55E2–E6; 55F3 region on chromosome 2R is involved in the resistance phenomenon. In this paper, we first restricted the Rlb containing region by mapping at the molecular level the breakpoints of the Df(2R)Pc66, Df(2R)P34 and Df(2R)Pc4 deficiencies, using both chromosomal in situ hybridization and Southern analyses. The resistance gene was localized in a 100 kb fragment, predicted to contain about 10 different genes. Male recombination genetic exp…
Effect of host kairomones and oviposition experience on the arrestment behavior of an egg parasitoid
2006
SUMMARY Chemical residues left by walking adults of the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) induce arrestment behavior in the egg parasitoid Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston)(Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) leading to prolonged periods of walking on contaminated areas and to systematic return to the stimulus after encountering the treatment borders. In this study, we quantified how the hierarchical value of residues from host adults and oviposition experience can influence the arrestment behavior of T. basalis females. Our results showed that:(1) female wasps perceived host residues at different hierarchical levels depending on the host gender, with a clear pre…
A finely tuned strategy adopted by an egg parasitoid to exploit chemical traces from host adults.
2009
SUMMARY Scelionid egg parasitoids can obtain reliable information on the presence of host eggs by discriminating host gender on the basis of chemical footprints of their co-evolved hosts, with a strong preference for the footprint left by host females. Based on the concept of dietary specialization and infochemical use in natural enemies, it could be predicted that host gender discrimination in specialist species belonging to the genus Trissolcus is further tuned to specific cues from distinctive chemical traces left by host females as a consequence of copulation and/or oviposition. To test this hypothesis we used the system Murgantia histrionica – Trissolcus brochymenae. Our results showed…