Stimuli eliciting sexual pursuit in the digger wasp Bembex rostrata (L.) males (Hymenoptera, Sphegidae). I. The choice of an adequate method for the ethometry survey.

Parental Investment and Sexual Dimorphism in Digger Wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)

Olfactory conditioning in mate searching by the parasitoid Aphidius ervi (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

Despite the fact that insect learning capacity has been broadly demonstrated, the role that this process plays during mate searching has been scarcely explored. We studied whether the sexual behaviour of a male parasitic wasp can be conditioned to the odours from two alternative host plant complexes (HPCs) present during its first copulation. The experimental subjects were newly emerged males o...

Mate Location and the Onset of Sexual Responsiveness in the Parasitoid Wasp Spalangia endius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

In some animals, transformation to the adult stage occurs in a hidden location, such as a burrow or a host. Males that can locate hidden females sooner, e.g., before they emerge, may have amating advantage, particularly if the females are ready tomate.Whether males locate pre-emergent females and whether pre-emergent females will mate was examined in the parasitoid wasp Spalangia endiusWalker. ...

Alternative mating strategies in the digger wasp Philanthus zebratus Cresson.

Males of at least six species of the digger wasp genus Philanthus are territorial, defending areas on the ground and evidently marking these with a pheromone. This is also true of P. zebratus at two widely separate localities in Colorado. However, males in an aggregation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, are nonterritorial and participate in flights serving to intercept females leaving and entering the...

Costs of egg-laying and offspring provisioning: multifaceted parental investment in a digger wasp.

Nest-building Hymenoptera have been a major testing ground for theories of parental investment and sex allocation. Investment has usually been estimated by the likely costs of offspring provisioning, ignoring other aspects of parental care. Using three experimental treatments, we estimated the costs of egg-laying and provisioning separately under field conditions in a digger wasp Ammophila pube...