Annals of the Entomological Society of America (2008) 101, 656-663

Xin-Geng Wang and Russell H. Messing (2008)
Role of egg-laying experience in avoidance of superparasitism by fruit fly parasitoid Fopius arisanus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)
Annals of the Entomological Society of America 101 (3), 656-663
Abstract: The effect of prior oviposition experience on the avoidance of superparasitism was investigated in the solitary endoparasitoid Fopius arisanus (Sonan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a highly successful biological control agent of tephritid fruit fly pests. Individual female wasps, either naïve or having prior egg-laying experience in unparasitized hosts, were allowed to sequentially visit two coffee berries, each infested with a clutch of host eggs of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae). One of the two berries had been previously exploited by a conspecific female or the test-female herself. The wasp was allowed to visit the previously exploited or unexploited berry first while either in the presence or absence of a conspecific female. Naïve wasps readily accepted previously parasitized hosts only when they visited the previously exploited fruit first. In contrast, wasps that had experienced prior oviposition, and wasps that visited the unexploited berry first, never accepted previously parasitized hosts, even when the test wasps contained relatively high egg-load or had been exposed to hosts in the presence of conspecific females. These results demonstrate a dramatic effect of egg-laying experience on the avoidance of superparasitism by this parasitoid. We discuss the adaptive value of avoiding superparasitism in relation to the mechanism of intraspecific competition in this species.
(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): Xin-Geng Wang

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.
	Ceratitis capitata	Coffee (Coffea)
Fopius arisanus (parasitoid)	Ceratitis capitata	Coffee (Coffea)