The Reproductive Strategy of a Parasitic Wasp: II. Sex Allocation and Local Mate Competition in Trichogramma evanescens

Waage, J. K.; Lane, Julie A.

doi:10.2307/4525

Cited by 99 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Sex ratios in the parasitoid wasps Trichogramma evanescens (Waage & Lane 1984) and Telenomus heliothidis (Strand 1988) become less femalebiased with increasing foundress density because there is an accompanying average clutch size decrease and males are mainly produced early in oviposition bouts. Furthermore, such behaviour often cannot be ruled out in other pollinating wasp species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex ratio strategies and the evolution of cue use

et al. 2005

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Quantitative tests of sex allocation theory have often indicated that organism strategies deviate from model predictions. In pollinating fig wasps, Lipporrhopalum tentacularis, whole fig (brood) sex ratios are generally more female-biased than predicted by local mate competition (LMC) theory where females (foundresses) use density as a cue to assess potential LMC. We use microsatellite markers to investigate foundress sex ratios in L. tentacularis and show that they actually use their clutch size as a cue, with strategies closely approximating the predictions of a new model we develop of these conditions. We then provide evidence that the use of clutch size as a cue is common among species experiencing LMC, and given the other predictions of our model argue that this is because their ecologies mean it provides sufficiently accurate information about potential LMC that the use of other more costly cues has not evolved. We further argue that the use of these more costly cues by other species is due to the effect that ecological differences have on cue accuracy. This implies that deviations from earlier theoretical predictions often indicate that the cues used to assess environmental conditions differ from those assumed by models, rather than limits on the ability of natural selection to produce 'perfect' organisms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex ratio strategies and the evolution of cue use

et al. 2005

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“…Before oviposition, females can measure precisely the size and quality of a host, to determine how many eggs to lay (Godfray 1994;Schmidt and Smith 1985). In some parasitoids, progeny sex allocation-the female's decision whether to lay male or female eggs in an oviposition bout-has been shown to be precise and its adaptive significance has been discussed (Chow and Mackauer 1996;Noda and Hirose 1989;Putters and van den Assem 1985;Waage and Lane 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clutch size decisions of Cotesia glomerata, a gregarious parasitoid of Pieris brassicae

Hasan

Ansari

2010

Phytoparasitica

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This work investigated the ability of the gregarious larval endoparasitoid Cotesia glomerata L. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) to adjust the progeny sex ratio and clutch size with repeated oviposition experience and the effect of a honey-based diet on the clutch size. In the field-collected clusters many clusters were female-biased but some clusters (3.8%) produced only male wasps, suggesting that there is a low percentage of unmated females in the field. Superparasitism was common in the field, and females were believed to increase progeny sex ratio when attacking previously parasitized hosts. In the laboratory, the number of eggs laid in a day tended to decrease with increasing female age. For females that were offered two hosts per day and for those offered three hosts per day, this value became nearly the same at 9 days after the start of oviposition. Old females which attacked many hosts tended to lay fewer eggs in a day than young ones. However, the degree of this tendency was not the same for all the parasitoid females of all three groups because sperm remained viable throughout a female's lifetime. The amount of sperm used in a single oviposition bout seemed fixed and was not dependent on the number of eggs laid. Over the 2 days of the clutch size response experiment, the number of hosts a female attacked per day was not affected by the presence or absence of honey.

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“…Werren 1980Werren , 1983 and in solitary species that lay their eggs in patches of hosts (e.g. Waage and Lane 1984;Weltzen and Waage 1987). Werren (1984) presented a model in which both the effects of variable host quality and LMC were taken into account.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Host choice and offspring sex allocation in a solitary parasitic wasp

Brault

1991

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Females of the parasitic wasp Antrocephalus pandens can detect differences in the quality of their hosts (pupae of Corcyra cephalonica, a stored-product moth) and allocate offspring of either sex accordingly. Larger and younger hosts are accepted more often in both dead and live hosts; more female offspring emerge from the perceived better hosts, while more males emerge from the smaller, older ones. These patterns are consistent with a sex allocation strategy by the mother, since females from a given size host tend to be larger than males and larger females produce more eggs. However, when wasps lay their eggs in groups of hosts of different size and age rather than encountering them one at a time, no difference in number or sex ratio of offspring is detected between groups. This result and evidence from the change in offspring sex ratio with female age and with numbers of females foraging on a group of hosts are interpreted and discussed in the context of sex allocation (Charnov 1979) and local mate competition (LMC, Hamilton 1967) theories.

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The Reproductive Strategy of a Parasitic Wasp: II. Sex Allocation and Local Mate Competition in Trichogramma evanescens

Cited by 99 publications

References 16 publications

Sex ratio strategies and the evolution of cue use

Sex ratio strategies and the evolution of cue use

Clutch size decisions of Cotesia glomerata, a gregarious parasitoid of Pieris brassicae

Host choice and offspring sex allocation in a solitary parasitic wasp

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