Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:30:31.764Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CHALCID PARASITOID ATTACK ON A GALL WASP POPULATION (ACRASPIS HIRTA (HYMENOPTERA: CYNIPIDAE)) ON QUERCUS PRINUS (FAGACEAE)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Jan O. Washburn  and
Howard V. Cornell
Jan O. Washburn
Affiliation:
School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711
Howard V. Cornell
Affiliation:
School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The developmental sequence of the asexual generation of the gall wasp Acraspis hirta Bassett (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) on its host plant Quercus prinus (Fagaceae) is described from a site in New Jersey. Chalcid attack was the key mortality factor in the gall population. Parasitoids concentrated their attack on host galls before galls matured and hardened. Hardening of gall walls appears to be the most important deterrent to later attack by inhibiting oviposition. Parasitoids which emerged from A. hirta galls did not reinfest the surviving hosts but probably shifted to other gall species. The parasitoids of Cynips divisa, a similar Old World gall species, became progressively more generalized in their feeding preferences as the season progressed. No such temporal sequencing wau observed in A. hirta.

Spacing out of A. hirta galls among leaves is an important strategy for increasing individual fitness in response to parasitoid attack. Most trees were sparsely infested, and few leaves supported more than one gall. Parasitoid mortality was significantly higher on multiply infected leaves than on leaves with one gall. Galls which were parasitized had a significantly smaller average distance to the nearest neighboring gall than those that escaped parasitism suggesting a slight resource concentration effect.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 111 , Issue 4 , April 1979 , pp. 391 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1979

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. 1961. On the biology of the inhabitants of oak galls of Cynipidae (Hym.) in Britain. Trans. Soc. Br. Ent. 14: 237–268.Google Scholar
Askew, R.R. 1962. The distribution of Neuroterus (Hym., Cynipidae) on oak. J. Anim. Ecol. 31: 439–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Askew, R.R. 1975. The organization of chalcid-dominated parasitoid communities centered upon endophytic hosts. In Price, P.W. (Ed.), Evolutionary Strategies of Parasitic Insects and Mites. Plenum Press, New York. 224 pp.Google Scholar
Borror, D.J. and DeLong, D.M.. 1971. An Introduction to the Study of Insects. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York. 812 pp.Google Scholar
DeBach, P. and Smith, H.S.. 1947. Effect of parasite population density on rate of change of host and parasite populations. Ecology 28: 290–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felt, E.P. 1940. Plant Galls and Gall Makers. Comstock, Ithaca. 364 pp.Google Scholar
Hassell, M.P. and Rogers, D.J.. 1972. Insect parasite responses in the development of population models. J. Anim. Ecol. 41: 661–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holling, C.S. 1959. Some characteristics of simple types of predation and parasitism. Can. Ent. 91: 385–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinsey, A.C. 1923. The Gall Wasp Genus Neuroterus. Indiana Univ. Stud. 10. 150 pp.Google Scholar
Kinsey, A.C. 1930. The Gall Wasp Genus Cynips: A Study in the Origin of Species. Indiana Univ. Stud. 577 pp.Google Scholar
Mani, M.S. 1964. Ecology of Plant Galls. Junk, The Hague. 434 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maresquelle, H.J. and Meyer, J.. 1965. Physiologie et morphogenese des galles d'origine animals (zoocecidies). Handb. Pfl Physiol. 15: 280–329.Google Scholar
Miyashita, K., Ito, Y., Nakamura, K., Nakamura, M., and Kondo, M.. 1965. Population dynamics of the chestnut gall wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae). III. Five year observation of population fluctuations. Jap. J. Appl. Ent. Zool. 9: 42–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peck, O. 1963. A catalogue of the Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Insecta: Hym.). Can. Ent. Suppl. 30. 1092 pp.Google Scholar
Price, P.W. 1970. Biology of and host exploitation by Pleolophus indistinctus (Hym., Ichneumonidae). Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 63: 1502–1509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, P.W. 1972. Parasitoids utilizing the same host: adaptive nature of differences in size and form. Ecology 53: 190–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, P.W. 1973. Reproductive strategies in parasitoid wasps. Am. Nat. 107: 684–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Root, R.B. 1973. Organization of a plant-arthropod association in simple and diverse habitats: the fauna of collards (Brassica oleracea). Ecol. Monogr. 43: 95–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shorthouse, J.D. 1973. The insect community associated with rose galls of Diplolepis polita (Hym., Cynipidae). Quaest. ent. 9: 55–98.Google Scholar
Weld, L.H. 1957. Cynipid Galls of the Pacific Slope. Privately printed, Ann Arbor. 64 pp.Google Scholar
Weld, L.H. 1959. Cynipid Galls of the Eastern United States. Privately printed, Ann Arbor. 124 pp.Google Scholar
Weld, L.H. 1960. Cynipid Galls of the Southwest. Privately printed, Ann Arbor. 35 pp.Google Scholar