Ecological Entomology (2009) 34, 669-676

Alejandro Tena, Apostolos Kapranas, Ferran Garcia-Marí and Robert F. Luck (2009)
Larval cannibalism during the late developmental stages of a facultatively gregarious encyrtid endoparasitoid
Ecological Entomology 34 (6), 669-676
Abstract: 1. The larvae of many gregarious parasitoid species are usually non-aggressive when they develop in or on a host, but those of Metaphycus flavus are one of the few exceptions known. Herein we describe their aggressive behaviour and the conditions under which it occurs, using observations in which larval development and physical conflict within parasitised and superparasitised hosts were mapped daily.
2. Metaphycus flavus larvae often engaged in physical conflict that resulted in consumption of the losing larvae (= cannibalism ) in superparasitised hosts, whereas such conflict and consumption occurred rarely when a single brood developed in a host.
3. Cannibalism among M. flavus larvae only occurred after the host resources had become scarce. Typically it occurred after the sixth day of development (fourth-instar larvae) when the larvae in a clutch had separated from their aeroscopic plate and were freed of their attachment to the host's cuticle.
4. Female larvae in the initial clutch appeared more aggressive than male larvae when a second clutch was allocated 4 h after the first clutch. The probability of a larva being attacked and consumed by a brood mate increased as the number of larvae increased in the host. This partial tolerance might allow the members of the initial brood to defend themselves from offspring of a superparasitising female (= competitors ). Such post-ovipositional regulation of brood size might be interpreted as high-density intolerance among female offspring.
(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): Apostolos Kapranas, Alejandro Tena, Ferran Garcia-Mari

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Metaphycus flavus (parasitoid)