BioControl (2014) 59, 487-500
Giovanni Benelli, Nickolas G. Kavallieratos, Elisa Donati, Margherita Mencattelli, Gabriella Bonsignori, Cesare Stefanini, Angelo Canale and Russell H. Messing (2014)
May the wild male loose? Male wing fanning performances and mating success in wild and mass-reared strains of the aphid parasitoid Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae)
BioControl 59 (5), 487-500
Abstract: Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a pan-tropical broadly oligophagous endoparasitoid of many aphids of economic importance, including Aphis gossypii Glover and Myzus persicae (Sulzer). While the trophic interactions occurring among A. colemani and its hosts have been extensively studied, little is known about the male- and female-borne cues that guide mating dynamics. Male wing fanning has been found to play a key role in A. colemani courtship, as successful mounting of females without initial wing fanning has never been observed. In this research, we analyzed wing fanning performance and mating ability of males from three different strains of A. colemani: wasps commercially mass-reared on A. gossypii, wild wasps from parasitized A. gossypii, and wild wasps from parasitized Aphis nerii Boyer de Fonscolombe. Results showed that virgin females did not rely on particular male fanning features during mate choice. Moreover, when A. colemani individuals developed on A. gossypii, no major differences were detected in courtship and mating ability between field collected and mass-reared wasps. In contrast, courtship performance and mating success varied between wild A. colemani males reared on different hosts, with those developing on A. nerii having lower quality wing fanning performance during the mounting attempt phase, and reduced ability to compete for females with other males reared on A. gossypii.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Giovanni Benelli, Nickolas G. Kavallieratos, Angelo Canale
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution
Pest and/or beneficial records:
| Beneficial | Pest/Disease/Weed | Crop/Product | Country | Quarant.
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aphis gossypii | ||||
| Aphis nerii | ||||
| Aphidius colemani (parasitoid) | Aphis gossypii | |||
| Aphidius colemani (parasitoid) | Aphis nerii |
