Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:34:31.189Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The bizarre male of Spalangia dozieri (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae): adaptations for male phoresy or the result of sexual selection?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2012

Gary A.P. Gibson*
Affiliation:
Biodiversity and Integrated Pest Management, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0C6
Carolina Reigada
Affiliation:
Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Biociências, Campus de Botucatu, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Distrito de Rubião Júnior, s/n°, 18618–000, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil
*
1Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]).

Abstract

Spalangia dozieri Burks is newly recorded as a gregarious parasitoid in the puparia of Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann), C. putoria (Wiedemann), Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann), and L. sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), and represents the first report of gregariousness in Spalangia Latreille. The previously unknown males of S. dozieri are described and compared with females. Males have highly modified legs and several other sexually dimorphic features that differ from those of other Spalangia species. Most of the unusual features are hypothesized to be adaptations for grasping and holding and it is suggested that males either are phoretic on adults of their dipteran hosts or, possibly, that males exhibit aggressive or other atypical behaviour toward siblings that is correlated with being gregarious. Barbados, Brazil, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad are recorded as new country distribution records for S. dozieri.

Résumé

Spalangia dozieri Burks est signalé pour la première fois comme parasitoïde grégaire des pupariums de Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann), C. putoria (Wiedemann), Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann) et L. sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae); c’est la première mention de grégarisme chez Spalangia Latreille. Nous décrivons les mâles, jusqu’à maintenant inconnus, de S. dozieri et les comparons aux femelles. Les mâles possèdent des pattes fortement modifiées et plusieurs autres caractères à dimorphisme sexuel qui les distinguent des autres Spalangia. Nous posons l’hypothèse selon laquelle la plupart de ces caractères inusités sont des adaptations pour s’accrocher et se tenir; nous pensons que les mâles pourraient être phorétiques sur les adultes des diptères qui leur servent d’hôtes ou qu’ils pourraient montrer des comportements agressifs ou autrement atypiques avec les individus de même fratrie en relation avec leur grégarisme. La Barbade, le Brésil, la Dominique, Sainte-Lucie, Saint-Vincent et Trinidad représentent de nouveaux pays qui s’ajoutent à l’aire de répartition connue de S. dozieri.

[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Askew, R.R. 1971. Parasitic insects. American Elsevier Publishing Co., Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Assem, J. van den. 1974. Male courtship patterns and female receptivity signal of Pteromalinae (Hym., Pteromalidae), with a consideration of some evolutionary trends and a comment on the taxonomic position of Pachycrepoideus vindemiae. Netherlands Journal of Zoology, 24: 253278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Assem, J. van den. 1975. Temporal patterning of courtship behaviour in some parasitic Hymenoptera, with special reference to Melittobia acasta. Journal of Entomology (A), 50: 137146.Google Scholar
Assem, J. van den, Gijswijt, M.J., and Nübel, B.K. 1980. Observations on courtshipand mating strategies in a few species of parasitic wasps (Chalcidoidea). Netherlands Journal of Zoology, 30: 208227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Assem, J. van den, Bosch, H.A.J., in den, and Prooy, E. 1982. Melittobia courtship behaviour: a comparative study of the evolution of a display. Netherlands Journal of Zoology, 32: 427471.Google Scholar
Bouček, Z. 1963. A taxonomic study in Spalangia Latr. (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae, 35: 429512.Google Scholar
Bouček, Z., and Heydon, S. 1997. Pteromalidae. Chapter 17. In Annotated keys to the genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Edited by Gibson, G.A.P., Huber, J.T., and Woolley, J.B.. Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. pp. 541692.Google Scholar
Bouček, Z., and Rasplus, J.-Y. 1991. Illustrated key to west-Palaearctic genera of Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Paris.Google Scholar
Burks, B.D. 1969. Species of Spalangia Latreille in the United States National Museum collections (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 2: 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clausen, C.P. 1976. Phoresy among entomophagous insects. Annual Review of Entomology, 21: 343368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dzhanokmen, K.A. 1978. Hymenoptera III. Chalcidoidea 5. Pteromalidae. Opredelitel' Nasekomikh Evropeyskoy Chasti SSSR. pp. 57228.Google Scholar
Farooqi, S.I., and Subba Rao, B.R. 1985. Family Pteromalidae. In The Chalcidoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera) of India and adjacent countries. Edited by Rao, B.R. Subba and Hayat, M.. Oriental Insects, 19: 254263.Google Scholar
Gibson, G.A.P. 1997. Morphology and terminology. Chapter 2. In Annotated keys to the genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). Edited by Gibson, G.A.P., Huber, J.T., and Woolley, J.B.. Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. pp. 1644.Google Scholar
Graham, M.W.R. de V. 1969. The Pteromalidae of north-western Europe (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology), Supplement 16.Google Scholar
Greeff, J.T., Van Noort, S., Rasplus, J.-Y., and Kjellberg, F. 2003. Dispersal and fighting in male pollinating fig wasps. Comptes Rendus Biologies, 326: 121130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, B.H. 1990. Behaviour of Spalangia cameroni males and sex ratio theory. Oikos, 59: 163174.Google Scholar
King, B.H. 2006. Mate location and the onset of sexual responsiveness in the parasitoid wasp Spalangia endius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Behaviour, 35: 13901395.Google Scholar
King, B.H. 2008. Effects of sex and mating status on who initiates contact in the parasitoid wasp Spalangia endius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Journal of Insect Behavior, 21: 387393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, B.H., and Dickerson, R.M. 2008. Functional and nonfunctional female receptivity signals in the parasitoid wasp Spalangia endius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Environmental Entomology, 37: 782786.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, B.H., and Fischer, C.R. 2005. Males mate guard in absentia through extended effects of postcopulatory courtship in the parasitoid wasp Spalangia endius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Journal of Insect Physiology, 51: 13401345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, B.H., Saporito, K.B., Ellison, J.H., and Bratzke, R.M. 2005. Unattractiveness of mated females to males in the parasitoid wasp Spalangia endius. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 57: 350356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, R.W., González, J.M., Matthews, J.R., and Deyrup, L.D. 2008. Biology of the parasitoid Melittobia (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Annual Review of Entomology, 54: 251266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naumann, I.D., and Reid, C.A.M. 1990. Ausasaphes shiralee sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae: Asaphinae), a brachypterous wasp phoretic on a flightless chrysomelid beetle (Coleoptera; Chrysomelidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society, 29: 319325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noyes, J.S. 2003. Universal Chalcidoidea database [online]. Available from http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/chalcidoids [accessed July 2008].Google Scholar
Orr, D.B., Russin, J.S., and Boethel, D.J. 1986. Reproductive biology and behavior of Telenomus calvus (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae), a phoretic egg parasitoid of Podisus maculiventris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). The Canadian Entomologist, 118: 10631072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinto, J.D. 1994. A taxonomic study of Brachista (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) with a description of two new species phoretic on robberflies of the genus Efferia (Diptera: Asilidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 96: 120132.Google Scholar
Weiblen, G.D. 2002. How to be a fig wasp. Annual Review of Entomology, 47: 299330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed