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"parasitic wasps"
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Two new host records for Centrodora italica Ferrière (Hymenoptera, Aphelinidae) from eggs of Tettigoniidae (Orthoptera, Ensifera) in northeastern Italy
The egg parasitoid Centrodora italica Ferrière is reported for the first time from sentinel eggs of two species of Tettigoniidae (Orthoptera), Pachytrachis gracilis (Brunner von Wattenwyl) and Eupholidoptera schmidti (Fieber). In Italy, only two hosts of this parasitic wasp are known, one of which is a tettigoniid species. Exposure of sentinel eggs represented a useful method to detect new host associations of this parasitoid species that can search for their host’s eggs in the ground. The parasitoids were identified by comparing our specimens with those of the type series, and the original description of C. italica .
Journal Article
Identifying native plants for coordinated habitat management of arthropod pollinators, herbivores and natural enemies
Providing noncrop flowering resources in agricultural landscapes is widely promoted as a strategy to support arthropods that deliver pollination and pest control services. However, management options have largely been developed separately for pollinators and natural enemies, whereas possible effects on insect herbivores, such as crop pests, have often been overlooked. A first critical step for design and implementation of multifunctional plantings that promote beneficial arthropods while controlling insect pests is to identify suitable plant species to use. We aimed to identify California native plants and, more generally, plant traits suitable for the coordinated management of pollinators (wild bees and honeybees), insect herbivores and arthropod natural enemies (predators and parasitic wasps). We established 43 plant species in a common garden experiment and sampled arthropods by weekly netting (wild bees), observations (honeybees), or vacuum sampling (insect herbivores, arthropod predators, and parasitic wasps) during peak bloom of each plant species over 2 years. Plant species differed in attractiveness for each arthropod functional group. Floral area of the focal plant species positively affected honeybee, predator, and parasitic wasp attractiveness. Later bloom period was associated with lower numbers of parasitic wasps. Flower type (actinomorphic, composite, or zygomorphic) predicted attractiveness for honeybees, which preferred actinomorphic over composite flowers and for parasitic wasps, which preferred composite flowers over actinomorphic flowers. Across plant species, herbivore, predator, and parasitic wasp abundances were positively correlated, and honeybee abundance correlated negatively to herbivore abundance. Synthesis and applications. We use data from our common garden experiment to inform evidence‐based selection of plants that support pollinators and natural enemies without enhancing potential pests. We recommend selecting plant species with a high floral area per ground area unit, as this metric predicts the abundances of several groups of beneficial arthropods. Multiple correlations between functionally important arthropod groups across plant species stress the importance of a multifunctional approach to arthropod habitat management. We use data from our common garden experiment to inform evidence‐based selection of plants that support pollinators and natural enemies without enhancing potential pests. We recommend selecting plant species with a high floral area per ground area unit, as this metric predicts the abundances of several groups of beneficial arthropods. Multiple correlations between functionally important arthropod groups across plant species stress the importance of a multifunctional approach to arthropod habitat management.
Journal Article
Species- and size-related differences in dopamine-like immunoreactive clusters in the brain of Nasonia vitripennis and N. giraulti
An extreme reduction in body size has been shown to negatively impact the memory retention level of the parasitic wasp
Nasonia vitripennis
. In addition,
N. vitripennis
and
Nasonia giraulti
, closely related parasitic wasps, differ markedly in the number of conditioning trials required to form long-term memory. These differences in memory dynamics may be associated with differences in the dopaminergic neurons in the
Nasonia
brains. Here, we used dopamine immunoreactivity to identify and count the number of cell bodies in dopaminergic clusters of normal- and small-sized
N. vitripennis
and normal-sized
N. giraulti
. We counted in total a maximum of approximately 160 dopaminergic neurons per brain. These neurons were present in 9 identifiable clusters (D1a, D1b, D2, D3, D4a, D4b, D5, D6 and D7). Our analysis revealed that
N. giraulti
had fewer cells in the D2 and D4a clusters but more in D4b, compared with normal-sized
N. vitripennis
. In addition, we found fewer cells in the D5 and D7 cluster of small-sized
N. vitripennis
compared to normal-sized
N. vitripennis
. A comparison of our findings with the literature on dopaminergic clusters in the fruit fly
Drosophila melanogaster
and the honey bee
Apis mellifera
indicates that clusters D2, D3 and D5 may play a role in memory formation in
Nasonia
wasps. The results from both the species comparison and the size comparison are therefore of high interest and importance for our understanding of the complex intricacies that underlie the memory dynamics of insects.
Journal Article
Spread and global population structure of the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) and its larval parasitoids Diadegma semiclausum and Diadegma fenestrale (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) based on mtDNA
The diamondback moth (DBM) (Plutella xylostella) is one of the main pests of brassicaceous crops worldwide and shows resistance against a wide range of synthetic insecticides incurring millions of dollars in control costs every year. The DBM is a prime example of the introduction of an exotic species as a consequence of globalization. In this study we analyzed the genetic population structure of the DBM and two of its parasitic wasps, Diadegma semiclausum and Diadegma fenestrale, based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. We analyzed DBM samples from 13 regions worldwide (n = 278), and samples of the two wasp species from six European and African countries (n = 131), in an attempt to reconstruct the geographic origin and phylogeography of the DBM and its two parasitic wasps. We found high variability in COI sequences in the diamondback moth. Haplotype analysis showed three distinct genetic clusters, one of which could represent a cryptic species. Mismatch analysis confirmed the hypothesized recent spread of diamondback moths in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The highest genetic variability was found in African DBM samples. Our data corroborate prior claims of Africa as the most probable origin of the species but cannot preclude Asia as an alternative. No genetic variability was found in the two Diadegma species. The lack of variability in both wasp species suggests a very recent spread of bottlenecked populations, possibly facilitated by their use as biocontrol agents. Our data thus also contain no signals of host-parasitoid co-evolution.
Journal Article
How parasitoid females produce sexy sons: a causal link between oviposition preference, dietary lipids and mate choice in Nasonia
Sexual selection theory predicts that phenotypic traits used to choose a mate should reflect honestly the quality of the sender and thus, are often costly. Physiological costs arise if a signal depends on limited nutritional resources. Hence, the nutritional condition of an organism should determine both its quality as a potential mate and its ability to advertise this quality to the choosing sex. In insects, the quality of the offspring's nutrition is often determined by the ovipositing female. A causal connection, however, between the oviposition decisions of the mother and the mating chances of her offspring has never been shown. Here, we demonstrate that females of the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis prefer those hosts for oviposition that have been experimentally enriched in linoleic acid (LA). We show by 13C-labelling that LA from the host diet is a precursor of the male sex pheromone. Consequently, males from LA-rich hosts produce and release higher amounts of the pheromone and attract more virgin females than males from LA-poor hosts. Finally, males from LA-rich hosts possess three times as many spermatozoa as those from LA-poor hosts. Hence, females making the right oviposition decisions may increase both the fertility and the sexual attractiveness of their sons.
Journal Article
Unrewarding experience with a novel environment modulates olfactory response in the host-searching behavior of parasitic wasps
Generalist insects, which utilize various food resources from various environments, must make decisions to locate resources using novel environmental sensory stimuli when they arrive in a new habitat. In addition to the innate response repertoire, such decision using novel stimuli can include an experience-based process. Here, we showed that the generalist parasitic wasp
Aphidius gifuensis
altered its olfactory responses after exposure to nonnatal habitat environments, i.e., host plants of aphids. In our laboratory experiments, overnight exposure of female wasps to nonnatal broad bean plants reduced their olfactory preference for uninfested bean plants and induced an olfactory preference for host-infested plants over uninfested plants of both broad bean and wheat. The decrease in olfactory preference for uninfested plants was not observed in wasps with overnight exposure to their natal wheat plants. In addition, the olfactory preference for uninfested wheat plants over uninfested bean plants was not observed without previous rewarding experience (oviposition) on the natal wheat plants prior to the overnight exposure to uninfested bean plants. These results suggest that a certain period of unrewarding experience (residency without host finding) on nonnatal plants promoted emigration from the unrewarded environment and increased the wasp’s response to olfactory cues from host-infested plants of both species. This study shows negative experience with uninfested plants plays a key role in host-searching behavior and habitat (host plant) selection in the wasp.
Journal Article
The Braconid and Ichneumonid Parasitoid Wasps : Biology, Systematics, Evolution and Ecology
The Ichneumonoidea is a vast and important superfamily of parasitic wasps, with some 60,000 described species and estimated numbers far higher, especially for small-bodied tropical taxa. The superfamily comprises two cosmopolitan families - Braconidae and Ichneumonidae - that have largely attracted separate groups of researchers, and this, to a considerable extent, has meant that understanding of their adaptive features has often been considered in isolation. This book considers both families, highlighting similarities and differences in their adaptations. The classification of the whole of the Ichneumonoidea, along with most other insect orders, has been plagued by typology whereby undue importance has been attributed to particular characters in defining groups. Typology is a common disease of traditional taxonomy such that, until recently, quite a lot of taxa have been associated with the wrong higher clades. The sheer size of the group, and until the last 30 or so years, lack of accessible identification materials, has been a further impediment to research on all but a handful of 'lab rat' species usually cultured initially because of their potential in biological control. New evidence, largely in the form of molecular data, have shown that many morphological, behavioural, physiological and anatomical characters associated with basic life history features, specifically whether wasps are ecto- or endoparasitic, or idiobiont or koinobiont, can be grossly misleading in terms of the phylogeny they suggest. This book shows how, with better supported phylogenetic hypotheses entomologists can understand far more about the ways natural selection is acting upon them. This new book also focuses on this superfamily with which the author has great familiarity and provides a detailed coverage of each subfamily, emphasising anatomy, taxonomy and systematics, biology, as well as pointing out the importance and research potential of each group. Fossil taxa are included and it also has sections on biogeography, global species richness, culturing and rearing and preparing specimens for taxonomic study. The book highlights areas where research might be particularly rewarding and suggests systems/groups that need investigation. The author provides a large compendium of references to original research on each group. This book is an essential workmate for all postgraduates and researchers working on ichneumonoid or other parasitic wasps worldwide. It will stand as a reference book for a good number of years, and while rapid advances in various fields such as genomics and host physiological interactions will lead to new information, as an overall synthesis of the current state it will stay relevant for a long time.
eBook
Octopamine-like immunoreactive neurons in the brain and subesophageal ganglion of the parasitic wasps Nasonia vitripennis and N. giraulti
Octopamine is an important neuromodulator in the insect nervous system, influencing memory formation, sensory perception and motor control. In this study, we compare the distribution of octopamine-like immunoreactive neurons in two parasitic wasp species of the Nasonia genus, N. vitripennis and N. giraulti. These two species were previously described as differing in their learning and memory formation, which raised the question as to whether morphological differences in octopaminergic neurons underpinned these variations. Immunohistochemistry in combination with confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to reveal and compare the somata and major projections of the octopaminergic neurons in these wasps. The brains of both species showed similar staining patterns, with six different neuron clusters being identified in the brain and five different clusters in the subesophageal ganglion. Of those clusters found in the subesophageal ganglion, three contained unpaired neurons, whereas the other three consisted in paired neurons. The overall pattern of octopaminergic neurons in both species was similar, with no differences in the numbers or projections of the ventral unpaired median (VUM) neurons, which are known to be involved in memory formation in insects. In one other cluster in the brain, located in-between the optic lobe and the antennal lobe, we detected more neurons in N. vitripennis compared with N. giraulti. Combining our results with findings made previously in other Hymenopteran species, we discuss possible functions and some of the ultimate factors influencing the evolution of the octopaminergic system in the insect brain.
Journal Article
Previous Interspecific Courtship Impairs Female Receptivity to Conspecifics in the Parasitoid Wasp Nasonia longicornis But Not in N. vitripennis
Interspecific sexual interactions are not uncommon in animals. In sympatry, females often face the risk of accidentally mating with a heterospecific male. Based on the actual risks imposed by the environment at a given time and place, females should be able to adjust their mate acceptance in order to avoid interspecific copulations as well as accidentally refusing to mate with a conspecific. We investigate the ability of females of the two parasitoid wasp species Nasonia vitripennis (Nv) and N. longicornis (Nl) to adjust their mate acceptance in response to previous unsuccessful courtship by heterospecific males. We show that Nl females are more reluctant to mate with a conspecific male when having been courted previously by a heterospecific male, but Nv females are not. We argue that this strategy is reasonable for Nl females but not for Nv females, which follow a different strategy to avoid the fitness costs imposed by heterospecific copulations.
Journal Article