Mating Strategies in Solitary Aphid Parasitoids: Effect of Patch Residence Time and Ant Attendance |
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Authors: | Franklin N Nyabuga Wolfgang V?lkl Ulrich Schw?rer Wolfgang W Weisser Manfred Mackauer |
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Institution: | (1) Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Dornburger Stra?e 159, 07743 Jena, Germany;(2) Present address: Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish Agricultural University, P.O. Box 102, SE-23053 Alnarp, Sweden;(3) Department of Animal Ecology, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany;(4) Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5A 1S6 |
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Abstract: | Mate finding and dispersal from the natal patch in parasitoid Hymenoptera are influenced by the availability of host resources
and interactions with other organisms. We compared the mating behavior of three solitary aphid parasitoids, Aphidius ervi Haliday, Lysiphlebus hirticornis Mackauer and Pauesia pini (Haliday) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) that differ in host resource exploitation and ant mutualism. In L. hirticornis, which is obligately ant-attended, the residence time on the natal patch was approximately 4 h compared with less than 2 h
in the facultatively ant-attended P. pini; the sexes did not differ in residence time. Females of A. ervi, which is not attended by ants, stayed for slightly more than 2 h on the natal patch while their male siblings remained for
only 1 h. In L. hirticornis, 90% of all siblings in a clutch mated on the natal patch but only 13% in A. ervi and 42% in P. pini did so. Off-patch matings (23%) were observed only in A. ervi. Males and females of L. hirticornis were 12-times more likely to mate on the natal patch when aphids and ants were present than when either of the latter species
was removed; and patch residence time declined from approximately 4 h to approximately 2.5 h in the absence of either aphids
or ants. We propose that, in aphidiine wasps and perhaps other quasigregarious parasitoids, mating behavior is influenced
by the availability of resources on the natal patch and the presence or absence of trophobiotic ants. Partial sib mating is
expected in species producing large clutches and having a long patch residence time. |
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