Observations On Courtship - and Mating Strategies in a Few Species of Parasitic Wasps (Chalcidoidea)

Assem, J. Van Den; Gijswijt, M.J.; Nübel, Birgit K.

doi:10.1163/002829679x00386

Cited by 77 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…Hence, using 4-MeQ to stay at scent-marked patches rather than dispersing and marking new ones might be a strategy of N. vitripennis males to save costly resources. 4-MeQ allows them to stay where attracted females arrive and helps them to return to the scent-marked areas which they often leave when chasing females over some distance during courtship or when chasing male competitors away from their territorial holdings (van den Assem et al, 1980a, b). Pheromone mediated site fidelity might be part of the mating strategy of both the dominant male and the subordinate satellite males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Females of N. vitripennis typically mate only once, and males compete for them aggressively. Dominant males defend the escape hole against their competitors (van den Assem et al, 1980a;van den Assem, 1986;Leonard and Boake, 2006). Subordinate other males (so-called satellite males) often wait in the vicinity of the host puparium for females leaving the natal site without being inseminated by the dominant male (van den Assem, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pheromone Communication in Nasonia vitripennis: Abdominal Sex Attractant Mediates Site Fidelity of Releasing Males

2010

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Males of the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) use a substrate-borne sex pheromone to attract virgin females. The pheromone is synthesized in the rectal vesicle and deposited via the anus by dabbing movements of the abdominal tip. The chemicals attracting the females are composed of a mixture (4R,5R- and (4R,5 S)-5-hydroxy-4-decanolides (HDL) being synergized by the trace component 4-methylquinazoline (4-MeQ) which is not attractive for females when offered alone. Here we show that male pheromone deposits are not only attractive to virgin females but also for the releasing males themselves. In an olfactometer bioassay, males were strongly attracted by their own pheromone markings but were unable to discriminate between their own markings and those deposited by other males. Polar fractions of pheromone gland extracts containing the HDLs and 4-MeQ were also highly attractive for males. Bioassays using synthetic pheromones in natural doses revealed that combinations of HDL/4-MeQ and 4-MeQ alone attracted males whereas the HDLs alone were behaviorally inactive. Furthermore, males did not discriminate between HDL/4-MeQ and 4-MeQ alone. We conclude that the trace component 4-MeQ mediates site fidelity of N. vitripennis males at sites previously marked with the abdominal sex pheromone. The use of 4-MeQ to stay at and to return to scent-marked patches rather than marking new ones might be a strategy to economize semiochemical use in N. vitripennis males.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pheromone Communication in Nasonia vitripennis: Abdominal Sex Attractant Mediates Site Fidelity of Releasing Males

2010

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“…Understanding the scale at which mating occurs is, therefore, crucial. Laboratory experiments have shown that even when wasps emerge at very similar times from hosts that are next to each other, they are more likely to mate (albeit not exclusively) with individuals that developed in their own hosts (Van den Assem et al 1980aAssem et al , 1980b. In nature, this effect will be increased because hosts can be spatially separated and emergence times can be very spread out, as they were for our HV population (emergence times for the Schl population were not recorded), where the mean duration ‫ע‬ SE of emergence from the first to the last individual in a patch was days.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They then mate with the emerging females. When multiple hosts on a patch are parasitized, mating is typically nonrandom, with males and females from the same host more likely to mate with one another (Van den Assem et al 1980aAssem et al , 1980bShuker et al 2005). Females are fully winged and disperse away from the host.…”

Section: Study Organismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facultative Sex Ratio Adjustment in Natural Populations of Wasps: Cues of Local Mate Competition and the Precision of Adaptation

Burton-Chellew¹,

Koevoets²,

Grillenberger³

et al. 2008

The American Naturalist

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“…First, some species lay many eggs in each host so that wasp larvae develop gregariously. In such species, males often emerge before females and mate them as they emerge (7)(8)(9)(10). Second, volatile sex attractants are commonly found in parasitoids.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mate finding via a trail sex pheromone by a parasitoid wasp.

Fauvergue¹,

Hopper²,

Antolin³

1995

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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In field observations and laboratory experiments, we found that virgin females of the solitary parasitoid Aphelinus asychis did not emit a volatile sex pheromone to attract males, contrary to what has been reported in many other parasitoid species. Instead, we found that virgin females deposited a sex pheromone on the substrate to which males responded by intensively searching on and near the marked area. Males did not respond to leaves exposed to mated females or to other males. In patches of 64 wheat leaves, males were dispersed from a central release point, and more males were subsequently observed on leaves exposed to virgin females than on unexposed leaves. The pheromone faded to inactivity in less than 24 h. To examine whether the trail pheromone would be sufficient for mate finding by males in the field, we modeled random movement of males among plant stems where the trail pheromone was the only cue males used to find females. The probability that females encountered at least one male in their lifetime increased with male density and time after female emergence. Given the range of densities of A. asychis in barley and wheat fields near Montpellier, France, the model generated an encounter probability sufficient to explain the survival of established populations. The model also suggested that difficulty in finding mates at low density might be a problem for invading populations.

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Observations On Courtship - and Mating Strategies in a Few Species of Parasitic Wasps (Chalcidoidea)

Cited by 77 publications

References 0 publications

Pheromone Communication in Nasonia vitripennis: Abdominal Sex Attractant Mediates Site Fidelity of Releasing Males

Pheromone Communication in Nasonia vitripennis: Abdominal Sex Attractant Mediates Site Fidelity of Releasing Males

Facultative Sex Ratio Adjustment in Natural Populations of Wasps: Cues of Local Mate Competition and the Precision of Adaptation

Mate finding via a trail sex pheromone by a parasitoid wasp.

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