Host-searching behavior ofVenturia canescens (Grav.) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): Superparasitism |
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Authors: | J. P. Hughes I. F. Harvey S. F. Hubbard |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN Dundee, UK;(2) Present address: Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of St. Andrews, Bute Building, KY16 9TS St. Andrews, UK;(3) Present address: Population Biology Research Group, Department of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147, L69 3BX Liverpool, UK |
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Abstract: | The foraging behavior ofVenturia canescens, a solitary endoparasitoid of lepidopteran larvae, was investigated in the laboratory. FemaleVenturia canescens with a larger number of mature eggs to lay were found to have higher levels of superparasitism (measured as numbers of eggs laid per parasitized host). Increased parasitoid density was found to result in reduced levels of superparasitism by host-deprived (i.e.,undepleted) wasps. Females which had been allowed access to hosts before the experiment (depleted wasps) laid fewer eggs per parasitized host than undepleted wasps, although there was no significant difference in the levels of superparasitism among the depletion periods of 1, 2, 5, and 7 h. It was also found that an egg which was encountered less than 15 min after oviposition was much less likely to be avoided than one which was encountered after more than 15 min had elapsed. |
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Keywords: | superparasitism egg load host-parasitoid system foraging Venturia canescens |
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