Review of Parasitoid Wasps and Flies (Hymenoptera, Diptera) Associated with Limacodidae (Lepidoptera) in North America, with a Key to Genera

Gates, Michael W.; Lill, John T.; Kula, Robert R.; O’Hara, James E.; Wahl, David B.; Smith, David R.; Whitfield, James B.; Murphy, John M.; Stoepler, Teresa M.

doi:10.4289/0013-8797.114.1.24

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…Limacodid larvae suffer high mortality from both parasitic flies (Tachinidae) and wasps (mainly Eulophidae, Braconidae and Ichneumonidae), most of which are specialists on hosts in the limacodid family (Gates et al 2012). Limacodids are among the most polyphagous caterpillars known; individual species use dozens of woody host-plant species (Wagner 2005).…”

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Direct and indirect effects of light environment generate ecological trade‐offs in herbivore performance and parasitism

Stoepler

Lill

2013

Ecology

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A variety of ecological factors influence host use by parasitoids, including both abiotic and biotic factors. Light environment is one important abiotic parameter that differs among habitats and influences a suite of plant nutritional and resistance traits that in turn affect herbivore performance. However, the extent to which these bottom-up effects "cascade up" to affect higher trophic levels and the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of sunlight on tritrophic interactions are unclear. The objective of this study was to test how light environment (light gap vs. shaded forest understory) and leaf type (sun vs. shade leaves) affect the performance and incidence of parasitism of two species of moth larvae, Euclea delphinii and Acharia stimulea (Limacodidae). We manipulated the leaf phenotype of potted white oak saplings by growing them in either full sun or full shade throughout leaf expansion to produce sun and shade leaves, respectively. These saplings were then placed in light gap and adjacent shaded understory habitats in the forest in a full-factorial design, and stocked with sentinel larvae that were exposed to parasitism ("exposed" experiments). We reared additional larvae in sleeve cages (protected from parasitism) to isolate light environment and leaf phenotype treatment effects on larval performance in the absence of enemies ("bagged" experiments). In the exposed experiments, light environment strongly affected the likelihood of parasitism, while leaf phenotype did not. Euclea delphinii larvae were up to 6.6 times more likely to be parasitized in light gaps than in shaded understory habitats. This pattern was consistent for both tachinid fly and wasp parasitoids across two separate experiments. However, the larval performance of both species in the bagged experiments was maximized in the shade-habitat/sun-leaf treatment, a habitat/leaf-type combination that occurs infrequently in nature. Taken together, our results suggest that the direct effects of light environment on the incidence of parasitism supersede any indirect effects resulting from altered leaf quality and reveal inherent ecological trade-offs for herbivores confronted with choosing between sunny (high leaf quality, harsh environment, high parasitism) and shaded (reduced leaf quality less harsh environment, reduced parasitism) habitats.

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Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emerged adult parasitoids were identified to genus (and species where possible) using a voucher collection produced from local rearings since 2004 (see Gates et al 2012). Parasitoids that killed their host but failed to emerge were identified to family or order based on parasitoid puparia or host remains.…”

Section: Bitrophic Experiment-bagged Host Larvaementioning

confidence: 99%

Direct and indirect effects of light environment generate ecological trade‐offs in herbivore performance and parasitism

Stoepler

Lill

2013

Ecology

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“…Both Lithacodes and Euclea caterpillars are highly polyphagous, feeding on smooth-leaved trees of a wide variety of woody plant species [26], and have extremely protracted larval development (i.e., commonly requiring 60–80 days or more from egg hatch to cocoon formation) [27]. In their forest environment, these caterpillars are continuously exposed to natural enemies such as bacteria, viruses, and parasitic wasps and flies (parasitoids) that interact with their immune system throughout their development [28]. As with many larval lepidopterans, parasitoids are a dominant component of the natural enemy community, with incidences of parasitism of 30–50% (and up to 80%) commonly observed in slug caterpillars collected from the field [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As with many larval lepidopterans, parasitoids are a dominant component of the natural enemy community, with incidences of parasitism of 30–50% (and up to 80%) commonly observed in slug caterpillars collected from the field [27]. All of the currently described primary parasitoids of these focal species are restricted to hosts within the family Limacodidae, but attack multiple species within the family [28]. Our previous work in this system has shown that caterpillar size, a proxy for developmental stage, is a primary mechanism by which the two primary parasitoid guilds, wasps and flies, partition their shared host resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hemocyte Density Increases with Developmental Stage in an Immune-Challenged Forest Caterpillar

et al. 2013

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The cellular arm of the insect immune response is mediated by the activity of hemocytes. While hemocytes have been well-characterized morphologically and functionally in model insects, few studies have characterized the hemocytes of non-model insects. Further, the role of ontogeny in mediating immune response is not well understood in non-model invertebrate systems. The goals of the current study were to (1) determine the effects of caterpillar size (and age) on hemocyte density in naïve caterpillars and caterpillars challenged with non-pathogenic bacteria, and (2) characterize the hemocyte activity and diversity of cell types present in two forest caterpillars: Euclea delphinii and Lithacodes fasciola (Limacodidae). We found that although early and late instar (small and large size, respectively) naïve caterpillars had similar constitutive hemocyte densities in both species, late instar Lithacodes caterpillars injected with non-pathogenic E. coli produced more than a twofold greater density of hemocytes than those in early instars. We also found that both caterpillar species contained plasmatocytes, granulocytes and oenocytoids, all of which are found in other lepidopteran species, but lacked spherulocytes. Granulocytes and plasmatocytes were found to be strongly phagocytic in both species, but granulocytes exhibited a higher phagocytic activity than plasmatocytes. Our results strongly suggest that for at least one measure of immunological response, the production of hemocytes in response to infection, response magnitudes can increase over ontogeny. While the underlying raison d’ être for this improvement remains unclear, these findings may be useful in explaining natural patterns of stage-dependent parasitism and pathogen infection.

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“…Hyperparasitism is a rare event in nature, as evidenced by the low number of chalcidid hyperparasitoids of Licomadidae collected between 2004 and 2009 in North America (Gates et al 2012). Unlike most parasitoids, hyperparasitoids do not make cocoons, but pupate within the already prepared cocoon of the host parasitoid (Harvey et al 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Brachymeria koehleri(Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) as a Hyperparasitoid ofLespesia melloi(Diptera: Tachinidae) Pupae inThagona tibialis(Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) Caterpillars in Brazil

Tavares

Legaspi

Tavares

et al. 2013

Florida Entomologist

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Review of Parasitoid Wasps and Flies (Hymenoptera, Diptera) Associated with Limacodidae (Lepidoptera) in North America, with a Key to Genera

Cited by 10 publications

References 101 publications

Direct and indirect effects of light environment generate ecological trade‐offs in herbivore performance and parasitism

Direct and indirect effects of light environment generate ecological trade‐offs in herbivore performance and parasitism

Hemocyte Density Increases with Developmental Stage in an Immune-Challenged Forest Caterpillar

Brachymeria koehleri(Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) as a Hyperparasitoid ofLespesia melloi(Diptera: Tachinidae) Pupae inThagona tibialis(Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) Caterpillars in Brazil

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