Terms: parasitoid wasps, sex ratio, host size, local mate competition, host size model, host quality model, Waage's hypothesis, haplodiploid sex determination, differential mortality of the sexes, body size, development time, dispersal, behavioral constraints, sperm depletion, extrachromosomal factors, genetic variation, clutch size, methodological suggestions, assumptions of sex ratio models, ...

In this study, researchers studied the evolutionary effects on parasitoids of symbiont-mediated resistance by Acyrthosiphon pisum to the parasitoid, Aphidis ervi. They were able to take advantage of the parthenogenic life cycle of the aphid, allowing them to effectively rule out host evolution as the factor effecting results. They performed several experiments to determine what evolutionary eff...

BACKGROUND Natural selection has resulted in a complex and fascinating repertoire of innate behaviors that are produced by insects. One puzzling example occurs in fruit fly larvae that have been subjected to a noxious mechanical or thermal sensory input. In response, the larvae "roll" with a motor pattern that is completely distinct from the style of locomotion that is used for foraging. RESU...

In insects, mating often occurs after natal dispersal, and hence relies on a coevolved combination of sexual communication and movement allowing mate encounter. Volatile sex pheromones are widespread, generally emitted by females and triggering in-flight orientation of conspecific males. In parasitoid wasps, unmated females can start laying unfertilized eggs via parthenogenesis so that host pat...

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...

Review of Gokhman VE: Karyotypes of Parasitic Hymenoptera Book details Gokhman VE: Karyotypes of Parasitic Hymenoptera Springer; 2009:183. ISBN 978-1-4020-9807-9 Review This book is principally the summary of a large body of work, spanning nearly 25 years, by Vladimir Gokhman [1]. He has carved a niche in karyology of parasitoid wasps and this book has much to offer in the way of chromosome dat...

Polydnaviruses are mutualists of their parasitoid wasps and express genes in immune cells of their Lepidopteran hosts. Polydnaviral genomes carry multiple copies of viral ankyrins or vankyrins. Vankyrin proteins are homologous to IκB proteins, but lack sequences for regulated degradation. We tested if Ichnoviral Vankyrins differentially impede Toll-NF-κB-dependent hematopoietic and immune signa...

Parasitoid wasps lay female eggs or a high proportion of female eggs in favourable host insects because female wasps require many more resources during their development. Many studies have tested the effects of host physiological status on the sex allocation of parasitoids, but few have attempted to test the effects of host behavioural traits. Cotesia glomerata is a gregarious parasitoid wasp t...

We investigated two populations of Melittobia digitata Dahms, a gregarious parasitoid (primarily upon a wide range of solitary bees, wasps, and flies), in search of Wolbachia infection. The first population, from Xalapa, Mexico, was originally collected from and reared on Mexican fruit fly pupae, Anastrepha ludens Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae); the other, from Athens, Georgia, was collected from ...