Effects of Self-Superparasitism and Host Age on Fitness-Correlated Traits in the Solitary Endoparasitoid WaspMeteorus pulchricornis

Abstract

The domed fitness functions are suggested to describe developmental patterns of progeny parasitoids in relation to host age at oviposition in solitary koinobint parasitoids that are engaged in single parasitism, but few studies have investigated the applicability of the functions as related to superparasitism. The present study was designed to compare fitness functions between single parasitism and superparasitism by examining developmental patterns of Meteorus pulchricornis (Wesmael) (Hymneoptera: Braconidae) progeny in relation to the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), either singly parasitized or self-superparasitized as second–fifth instar larvae. Selfsuperparasitism caused deleterious effects on the fitness-related traits of parasitoid progeny, as demonstrated by a prolonged egg-to-adult emergence time, a smaller body size, and shorter longevity of the emerging adults, and decreased survival to adult emergence. While the domed fitness function was detected for development time, survival, adult body size, and longevity in relation to host larvae that were singly parasitized, the function was observed only for progeny survival in relation to host larvae that were self-superparasitized. This study suggests that developmental fitness functions with selfsuperparasitism can deviate from those with single parasitism in solitary koinobiont parasitoids.

Occurrence, Seasonal Abundance, and Superparasitism of Ooencyrtus kuvanae (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) as an Egg Parasitoid of the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) in North America

“…Self-superparasitism in solitary parasitoids is considered a waste of energy, as only one parasitoid individual survives in the end, whereas conspecific superparasitism can be advantageous under certain circumstances, since non-sibling competitors could be eliminated from parasitized hosts [28]. The benefits of increased numbers of offspring through superparasitism is usually negated by the deleterious effects on progeny fitness (i.e., prolonged development time, a smaller body size, a male-biased sex ratio, and decreased longevity) [28,33,61]. The tendency to superparasitize by parasitoids is largely determined by female age and host density, as older females and lower host densities tend to result in attacks on already parasitized hosts [33,62,63].…”

Polyphagous koinobiosis: the biology and biocontrol potential of a braconid endoparasitoid of exophytic caterpillars

“…Most of the host caterpillars are leaffeeding herbivores, but this also successfully parasitizes grain feeders (Ephestia kuehniella Zeller) and wax feeders (Galleria mellonella (L.)) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in the laboratory (Table 1). Whereas a wide range of host instars are acceptable, intermediate instars seem to be the best suited for parasitism (Barraclough et al 2014;Fuester et al 1993;Liu andLi 2006, 2008;Liu et al 2013;Malcicka and Harvey 2014;Zhang et al 2014).…”

“…Meteorus pulchricornis is a solitary koinobiont endoparasitoid of lepidopteran larvae. Its general bionomics (Askari et al 1977;Fuester et al 1993; Suzuki and Tanaka 2007;Takashino et al 2001), adult diet (Wu et al 2008), circadian activity (Nishimura et al 2015), courtship and mating behavior (Askari and Coppel 1978), oviposition behavior (Chau and Maeto 2009; Kageyama and Sugiura 2016;Sheng et al 2015;Yamamoto et al 2009;Zhou et al 2017), adaptive melanism (Abe et al 2013), superparasitism Maeto 2008, 2009;Zhang et al 2014), immune suppression mechanism (Suzuki and Tanaka 2006;Suzuki et al 2009), mitochondrial genome (Wei et al 2010), and modes of reproduction (Tsutsui et al 2014) have been studied.…”

Antiviral function of peptidoglycan recognition protein in Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

“…, 2003; Zhang et al. , 2014). Due to the rapid evolution of insect resistance to multiple chemical agents, and the ecological effects of an excessive dependence on chemical insecticides for controlling this pest (Osorio et al.…”