Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T23:37:43.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diapause in Caraphractus cinctus Walker (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), a parasitoid of the eggs of Dytiscidae (Coleoptera)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Dorothy J. Jackson
Dorothy J. Jackson
Affiliation:
North Cliff, St Andrews
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Caraphractus cinctus Walker is a parasitoid of the eggs of Dytiscidae. The entire development of this Mymarid takes place in eggs immersed in water and attached to, or embedded in, plant tissue. The winter is passed in diapause as a full-grown resting larva (prepupa) in the host egg.

Diapause of Caraphractus has been studied in the eggs of Agabus bipustulatus. The eggs of this Agabus do not undergo diapause and since the shell is transparent, the larvae of Caraphractus (usually two to three in each egg) are clearly visible during their later stages, so the time of pupation is easily determined.

Experiments were made of chilling the maternal generation of Caraphractus at various stages of development, but this did not lead to diapause in the larvae of the chilled generation, or to any increase in the diapause in the offspring.

When the Mymarid was bred in a north room exposed to natural daylight and darkness, some diapausing larvae occurred in mid-September and by October all were in diapause.

When larvae were reared in long photoperiods (16½–24 hr. light) development was direct, but with short photoperiods (2–15 hr. light), diapause occurred. The critical period lies between 14 and 16 hr. of light.

The stage sensitive to photoperiod is the full-grown larva, and when larvae are reared to this stage under short photoperiod and then transferred to continuous light, direct development is determined within 3 days. Conversely, larvae reared under continuous light and removed to short photoperiod before reaching the sensitive stage, go into diapause.

The larvae are sensitive to light of very low intensity, developing direct with a ‘night’ of 0·03–0·05 f.c. Larvae becoming full grown in the end of August and beginning of September do not diapause and must respond to 2–3 hr. of twilight.

Diapause induced, under artificial photoperiods at any time of the year, usually lasts about as long as the normal winter diapause. If however the prepupae are subjected to temperatures below freezing for about a fortnight (provided they have already been about 15 weeks in diapause) pupation occurs as soon as the temperature is suitable. In cold weather the pupal stage may be greatly prolonged.

I am much indebted to Professor H. G. Callan for his kind permission to use the constant temperature rooms at the Natural History Department of St Andrews University. I have received most valuable help from Dr C. Muir in conducting the various photoperiod experiments, especially in regard to light measurements, and I am most grateful to him for discussing with me many of the problems that arose in the course of this research and for commenting on the typescript of this paper. To Dr H. E. Hinton I am indebted for useful advice, and to Dr Seliga of St Andrews University for his translation of Russian papers. Professor and Mrs Stibbs have been most kind in providing me with information regarding the duration of astronomical darkness in the latitude of St Andrews. I am especially grateful to Dr George Salt for his kindness in reading over my typescript and for his helpful criticisms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 53 , Issue 1-2 , May 1963 , pp. 225 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1963

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

REFERENCES

Andrewartha, H. G. (1952). Diapause in relation to the ecology of insects. Biol. Rev. 27, 50–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aubert, J.-F. (1959). Les hôtes et les stades immatures des Ichneumonides Pimpla F., Apechthis Först. et Itoplectis Först. Bull. Biol. 93 (3), 16–259.Google Scholar
Barnes, H. F. (1952). Studies of fluctuations in insect populations. XII. Further evidence of prolonged larval life in the wheat-blossom midges. Ann. Appl. Biol. 39, 370–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, H. F. (1956). Gall Midges of Economic Importance, 7. London.Google Scholar
Bodenheimer, F. S. (1952). Arrested development and arrested activity in insect life. Trans. 9th Internat. Congress Ent., Amsterdam, 1951, 1, 21–40.Google Scholar
Corbet, P. S. (1958). Lunar periodicity of aquatic insects in Lake Victoria. Nature, Lond., 182, 330–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cousin, G. (1932). Étude expérimentale de la diapause des insectes. Bull. Biol. (Suppl.), 15, 341 pp.Google Scholar
Danilyevsky, A. S. (1957). Photoperiodism as a factor of formation of geographical races in insects. (In Russian, English summary.) Ent. Oboz. 36, 5–27.Google Scholar
Dickson, R. C. (1949). Factors governing the induction of diapause in the oriental fruit moth, Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 42, 511–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gayspitz, K. F. & Kyao, N. N. (1953). The influence of the length of illumination on the development of certain parasites (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). (In Russian.) Ent. Oboz. 33, 32–35.Google Scholar
Gayspitz (Geispits), K. F. (1957). On the mechanism of light stimuli perception during photoperiodic reaction in caterpillars of Lepidoptera. (In Russian, English summary.) Zool. Zhur. 36, 548–60.Google Scholar
Gilbert, L. I. (1962). Maintenance of the prothoracic gland by the juvenile hormone in insects. Nature, Lond., 193, 1205–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinton, H. E. (1946). Concealed phases in the metamorphosis of insects. Nature, Lond., 157, 552–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Imms, A. D. (1957). A General Textbook of Entomology, 9th ed. London: Methuen and Co., Ltd.Google Scholar
Jackson, D. J. (1958 a). Egg-laying and egg-hatching in Agabus bipustulatus L., with notes on oviposition in other species of Agabus (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae). Trans. R. Ent. Soc. Lond. 110, 53–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, D. J. (1958 b). Observations on the biology of Caraphractus cinctus Walker (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), a parasitoid of the eggs of Dytiscidae. I. Methods of rearing and numbers bred on different host eggs. Trans. R. Ent. Soc. Lond., 110, 533–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, D. J. (1961 a). Observations on the biology of Caraphractus cinctus Walker (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae), a parasitoid of the eggs of Dytiscidae (Coleoptera). II. Immature stages and seasonal history with a review of Mymarid larvae. Parasitology, 51, 269–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, D. J. (1961 b). Diapause in an aquatic Mymarid. Nature, Lond., 192, 823–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimball, H. H. (1938). The duration and intensity of twilight. Mon. Weath. Rev. 66, 279–86.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lees, A. D. (1955). The Physiology of Diapause in Arthropods. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lees, A. D. (1956). The physiology and biochemistry of diapause. Annu. Rev. Ent. 1, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lees, A. D. (1959). Photoperiodism in insects and mites. Photoperiodism and Related Phenomena in Plants and Animals, pp. 585–600 (ed. Withrow). Washington A.A.A.S.Google Scholar
Lees, A. D. (1960). Some aspects of animal photoperiodism. Coldspr. Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. pp. 261–8. (Biological Clocks.)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Love, G. L. & Whelchel, J. G. (1955). Photoperiodism and the development of Aedes triseriatus (Diptera: Culicidae). Ecology, 36, 340–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maslennikova, V. A. (1959). On the diapause and hibernation in Trichogramma evanescens Westw. (In Russian, English summary.) Vestn. Leningr. Univ. Leningrad (Biol. no. 1, no. 3, 91–6.Google Scholar
Paris, O. H. & Jenner, C. E. (1959). Photoperiodic control of diapause in the pitcher-plant midge Metriocnemus knabi. Photoperiodism and Related Phenomena in Plants and Animals, pp. 601–24, (ed. Withrow). Washington A.A.A.S.Google Scholar
Quednau, W. (1957). Über den Einfluss von Temperatur und Luftfeuchtigkeit auf den Eiparasiten Trichogramma cacoeciae Marchal. Mitt. biol. ZentAnst., Berl., 90, 1–63.Google Scholar
Schmieder, R. G. (1939). The significance of the two types of larvae in Sphecophaga burra (Cusson) and the factors conditioning them (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Ent. News. 50, 125–31.Google Scholar
Schneiderman, H. A. (1956). Onset and termination of insect diapause. Physiol. Trig. 1956, 46–59.Google Scholar
Schneiderman, H. A. & Horwitz, J. (1958). The induction and termination of facultative diapause in the Chalcid wasps Mormoniella vitripennis (Walker) and Tritneptis klugii (Ratzeburg). J. exp. Biol. 35, 520–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmonds, F. J. (1946). A factor affecting diapause in Hymenopterous parasites. Bull. ent. Res. 37, 95–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmonds, F. J. (1947). Some factors influencing diapause. Canad. Ent. 79, 226–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmonds, F. J. (1948). The influence of maternal physiology on the incidence of diapause. Phil. Trans. B, 233, 385–414.Google Scholar
Smith, O. J. & Langston, R. L. (1953). Continuous laboratory propagation of Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer and parasites by prevention of diapause. J. Econ. Ent. 46, 477–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiegs, O. W. (1922). Researches on the insect metamorphosis. Part I. On the structure and post-embryonic development of a Chalcid wasp, Nasonia. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Australia, 46, 319–490.Google Scholar
Way, M. J. & Hopkins, B. A. (1950). The influence of photoperiod and temperature on the induction of diapause in Diataraxia oleracea L. (Lepidoptera). J. Exp. Biol. 27, 365–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wigglesworth, V. B. (1954). The Physiology of Insect Metamorphosis. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, V. B. (1959). The Control of Growth and Form; a Study of the Epidermal Cell in an Insect. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, C. M. (1956). Physiology of insect diapause. X. An endocrine mechanism for the influence of temperature on the diapausing pupa of the Cecropia silkworm. Biol. Bull., Woods Hole, 110, 201–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, H. G. (1958). Factors that affect host-finding by Nasonia vitripennis (Walk.) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Canad. Ent. 90, 597–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar