Aggregation can confer advantages in animal foraging, defense, and thermoregulation. There is a tight connection between the evolution of insect sociality and a highly effective immune system, presumably to inhibit rapid disease spread in a crowded environment. This connection is less evident for animals that spend only part of their life cycle in a social environment, such as noneusocial grega...

Functional response and mutual interference are the most important behavioural characteristics that reveal different aspects of host–parasitoid interactions. In this study, functional response and mutual interference of the parasitoid wasp, Diaeretiella rapae (M’Intosh) attacking the cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus) were investigated. Logistic regression was used to distinguish t...

We record for the first time Darwin wasp species Photocryptus nigrosignatus (Kriechbaumer, 1901) parasitizing nests of solitary Sceliphron fistularium (Dahlbom, 1843) in Amazonas state, Brazil, and provide new distribution records them S. asiaticum (Linnaeus, 1758), other registered to Brazil. Additionally, we also report emergence Pachodynerus nasidens Latreille, 1817 (Vespidae), parasitoid wa...

objective: in this study the efficacy of two agent of this biological control agent of corn stem borer in corn fields compared with common synthetic insecticides endosolfan to find a suitable alternative for chemical control of pests in corn fields. methods: in order to evaluate the efficiency of biocontrol agents of corn stem borer ,ostrinia nubilalis, experiment was conducted in a randomized ...

1. In the AÊ land islands of SW Finland, the parasitoid Cotesia melitaearum (Wilkonson) is a specialist on the Glanville fritillary butter ̄y, Melitaea cinxia (L.), which uses two host plants, Plantago lanceolata (L.) and Veronica spicata (L.). 2. Extensive survey data on the butter ̄y and parasitoid populations collected in 1994±97 were used to examine possible associations of parasitoid coloniz...

Wing phenotype polymorphism is commonly observed in insects, yet little is known about the influence of environmental cues on the development or expression of the alternative phenotypes. Here, we report how both biotic and abiotic factors affect the wing morph differentiation of a bethylid parasitoid Sclerodermus pupariae. The percentage of winged female parasitoid progeny increased exponential...

Contagious sterility in the parasitoid wasp Eretmocerus mundus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) Elad Chiel a , Dan Gerling b , Shimon Steinberg c , Johannette Klapwijk d , Karel Bolckmans d & Einat Zchori-Fein a a Department of Entomology, Newe-Ya'ar Research Center, RamatYishay, 30095, ARO, Israel b Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel c Bio-Bee Biological Systems, K...

What is Nasonia? A small (2–3 mm) parasitoid wasp that oviposits in the pupae of flies (but not those of Drosophila!). This hymenopteran occurs naturally in bird nests and at carcasses. Three species are known: the cosmopolitan N. vitripennis and two endemic North American species, N. giraulti and N. longicornis. Nasonia is extremely easy to culture on commercially available host pupae, it has ...