Circadian rhythms of adult emergence and activity but not eclosion in males of the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis

Abstract

An endogenous circadian system is responsible for the rhythms observed in many physiological and behavioural traits in most organisms. In insects, the circadian system controls the periodicity of eclosion, egg-laying, locomotor and mating activity. The parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis has been extensively used to study the role of the circadian system in photoperiodism. In this study, behavioural activities expected to be under the control of the endogenous circadian system were characterized in Nasonia. Male emergence from the host puparium is rhythmic under light-darkness conditions while eclosion from the own pupal integument is not rhythmic but continuous. Following entrainment in light-dark conditions, males show robust free-running circadian activity rhythms with a period (tau, tau) of approximately 25.6h in constant darkness. While the endogenous circadian system is enough to trigger male emergence in Nasonia, light seems to have a modulatory effect: when present it induces more males to emerge. Our results add to the understanding of chronobiological phenotypes in insects and provide a basis towards the molecular characterization of the endogenous circadian system in Nasonia.

Measuring individual locomotor rhythms in honey bees, paper wasps and similar sized insects

“…Although the circadian locomotor rhythms of M. phthisicus and P. crinitus wasps have never been reported, circadian studies using the solitary wasp Nasonia vitripennis have shown that its endogenous period under DD is also greater than 24 h (Bertossa et al, 2010). Whether these deviations from the Earth's rotational period are related to the specific laboratory conditions or whether they are observed under more natural conditions became another of our research questions.…”

Phylogeny and oscillating expression ofperiodandcryptochromein short and long photoperiods suggest a conserved function inNasonia vitripennis

“…This wild-type line collected in the Netherlands was cured from Wolbachia infection and maintained in the lab since 1971 (van den Assem & Jachmann, 1999). Insect rearing proceeded as previously described (Bertossa et al, 2010). In short, wasps were kept in mass culture vials (70 × 20 mm) at 25 °C, under a light:dark 18 h:6 h (LD18:6) cycle and around 45% relative humidity.…”

“…The nature of these oscillators has remained elusive ever since in Nasonia . More recently, Bertossa et al (2010, 2013) have showed that eclosion but not emergence follows a circadian pattern in Nasonia wasps, and that these display long internal rhythms in constant darkness but short in constant light as well as considerable sex- and species-specific variation. Intriguingly, the presence of bimodal activity patterns and rhythm splits observed under constant conditions in Nasonia is compatible with the dual oscillator hypothesis (Pittendrigh & Daan, 1976).…”

Daily locomotor activity of the parasitoid wasp Meteorus pulchricornis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) that attacks exposed lepidopteran larvae

“…The diurnal activity of parasitoid wasps that attack the eggs, motionless or hidden larvae, and pupae of insects is well known (Barbosa and Frongillo 1977;Bertossa et al 2010;Ekbom 1982;Pompanon et al 1995;Sato et al 1983); however, our study is the first to describe the nocturnal and partly crepuscular activity of the parasitoids of exposed lepidopteran larvae in the laboratory. The results of our experiment support previous field observations of the nocturnal activity of ichneumonoid parasitoids that display "ophionoid facies" (e.g., Short et al 2006).…”

“…For instance, several chalcidoid wasps such as Trichogramma brassicae Bezdenko (Trichogrammatidae), an egg parasitoid of Lepidoptera (Pompanon et al 1995(Pompanon et al , 1999, Brachymeria intermedia (Nees) (Chalcididae), a pupal parasitoid of the gypsy moth (Barbosa and Frongillo 1977), Encarsia formosa Gahan (Aphelinidae), a parasitoid of the greenhouse whitefly (Ekbom 1982), and Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Pteromalidae), a pupal parasitoid of Diptera (Bertossa et al 2010), are known to be active mainly during the photophase, whereas Eretmocerus warrae Naumann & Schmidt (Aphelinidae), a parasitoid of the greenhouse whitefly, is active throughout the day (Hanan et al 2009). Also in larval parasitoids, Cotesia kariyai (Watanabe) (Braconidae) is known to be diurnal, whereas it attacks nocturnal hosts hiding in folding leaves in the daytime (Sato et al 1983).…”