Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2001) 100, 271-278

Yuval Gottlieb and Einat Zchori-Fein (2001)
Irreversible thelytokous reproduction in Muscidifurax uniraptor
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 100 (3), 271-278
Abstract: Vertically transmitted bacteria of the genus Wolbachia are obligatory endosymbionts known to cause thelytokous (asexual) reproduction in many species of parasitic Hymenoptera. In these species production of males can be induced, but attempts to establish sexual lines have failed in all but one genus. We have found three reproductive barriers between antibiotic-induced males and conspecific females of Muscidifurax uniraptor Kogan and Legner (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae): males do not produce mature sperm, females are reluctant to mate, and a major muscle is absent from the spermatheca. These findings suggest that Wolbachia-induced thelytokous reproduction in M. uniraptor is irreversible, and are consistent with the idea that since sexual reproduction has ceased, selection on sexual traits has been removed leading to the disappearance or reduction in these traits. Because under these circumstances asexual reproduction is irreversible, the host has become totally dependent on the symbiont for reproduction.
(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): Yuval Gottlieb, Einat Zchori-Fein

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.
Muscidifurax uniraptor (parasitoid)			Israel