Antennal Sensilla and Sexual Dimorphism of the Parasitoid Trichospilus pupivorus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae)

Abstract

Sensory structures (sensilla) of insects are present in high number in the antennae are important for perceiving environmental cues. Thus, sensilla play an important role in the localization, discrimination, and acceptance of a possible host by parasitoid insects. The sensilla, classified according to their shape, size, and distribution, may also show sexual dimorphism in insects. The types and distribution of antennal sensilla in female and male parasitoid Trichospilus pupivorus (Ferriere, 1930) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) were evaluated. T. pupivorus females had longer antennae than males. Both males and females have ten sensilla types with higher abundance of placoid sensilla in females, which suggest a possible functional dimorphism.

Ultrastructure of antennal sensilla of Copidosomopsis nacoleiae (Eady) (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Encyrtidae), a parasitoid of Diaphania angustalis (Snellen) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

“…Similarities among 16 parasitoid species of Chalcidoidea were analyzed based on their types of antennal sensilla, including Cheiloneurus noxius (Compere) (Weseloh, 1972), Tetrastichus hagenowii (Ratzeburg) (Barlin, Vinson, & Piper, 1981), Epidinocarsis lopezi (De Santis) (Baaren et al, 1996), Leptomastix dactylopii (Howard) (Baaren et al, 1996), Sympiesis sericeicornis (Nees) (Meyhofer, Casas, & Dorn, 1997), Pteromalus puparum (L.) (Xu, Hong, & Hu, 2000), Pteromalus cerealellae (Ashmead) (Onagbola & Fadamiro, 2008), Tamarixia radiata (Waterston) (Onagbola et al, 2009), Ooencyrtus phongi (Trjapitzin, Myartseva & Kostjukov) (Xi, Yin, Zhu, Guerrieri, & Zhang, 2011), Aenasius bambawalei (Hayat) (Long et al, 2013), Metaphycus parasaissetiae (Zhang & Huang) (Zhou, Wu, Zhang, & Fu, 2013), Tetrastichus planipennisi (Yang) (Gao, Wang, Zhao, & Liu, 2013), Encarsia sophia (Girault & Dodd) (Zhang et al, 2014), Anagyrus sp. near pseudococci (Fortunal, Franco, & Rebelo, 2015), Tetrastichus howardi (Olliff) (Zheng, Zheng, Liao, & Wu, 2016) and Trichospilus pupivorus (Ferrière) (Silva et al, 2016). It should be noted that different nomenclatures were used in some of these studies to describe the antennal sensilla.…”

“…Generally, female parasitic wasps use antennal sensilla to locate host insects through herbivore‐induced plant odors, while male wasps may use them to locate females via sex pheromones (Bleeker, Smid, van Aelst, van Loon, & Vet, 2004). Therefore, sexual dimorphism in antennal sensilla in terms of color, number of flagellomeres, abundance and distribution has been reported in many parasites (Ahmed et al, 2013; Huang et al, 2017; Onagbola, Boina, Hermann, & Stelinski, 2009; Silva, Pereira, Spranghers, Zanuncio, & Serrao, 2016).…”

Ultrastructure of Female Antennal Sensilla of an Endoparasitoid Wasp,Quadrastichus mendeliKim & La Salle (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Tetrastichinae)

“…Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to analyze similarities between 16 parasitoids of Eulophidae species based on the types of antennal sensilla, such as Tetrastichus hagenowii Ratzeburg (Barlin et al, 1981), Sympiesis sericeicornis Nees (Meyhofer et al, 1997), Aprostocetus fukutai Miwa & Sonar and Aprostocetus prolixus La Salle & Huang (Wang et al, 2007), Diglyphus isaea Walker (Zou et al, 2009), Microdonophagus levis Schauff and Microdonophagus woodleyi Schauff (Hansson, 2009), Tamarixia radiata Waterston (Onagbola et al, 2009), Tetrastichus brontispae Ferrière (Xin et al, 2010), Tetrastichus nigricoxae Yang (Wang et al, 2012), Chouioia cunea Yang (Xu et al, 2013), Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang (Gao et al, 2013), Tetrastichus howardi Olliff (Zheng et al, 2016), Tetrastichus septentrionalis Yang (Hong et al, 2016), and Trichospilus pupivorus Ferrière (Da Silva et al, 2016).…”

Effect of Different Honey Concentrations on Survival, Longevity and Reproduction of Trichospilus pupivorus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), a Parasitoid of Coconut Black-Headed Caterpillar, Opisina arenosella (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae)

“…T. pupivorus was first described morphologically by Ferriere (1930) and later followed by Narendran (2011). Many researches on numerous aspects of T. pupivorus has been conducted by earlier researchers since early 1940s which include the biological aspects (Jayaratnam, 1941;Rao et al, 1948;Dharmaraju, 1952;Nirula, 1956), factors affecting its biology (Dharmaraju & Pradan, 1976) and its hosts range (Tavares et al, 2012;Tavares et al, 2013;Silva et al, 2016). Meanwhile, discussions on the dietary aspect of T. pupivorus in relation to its mass rearing is very scarce.…”