The parasitoid wasps of the genus Trichogramma use the surface curvature of their insect egg hosts to set an upper limit to the number of progeny allocated to the host, as well as the duration of their host examination. In addition, host recognition and host acceptance are in part mediated by surface curvature. In this paper, the relationships between the positions of body parts of the wasp and...

Hymenoptera stings can cause serious injury to humans. We report the clinical findings of 6 cases of Hymenoptera stings. All patients developed painful erythematous papules at the sting sites and had a past history of parasitoid wasp sting. This is the first clinical report of the parasitoid wasp, Cephalonomia gallicola, causing human stings in Korea.

Neonicotinoids are widely used insecticides, but their use is subject of debate because of their detrimental effects on pollinators. Little is known about the effect of neonicotinoids on other beneficial insects such as parasitoid wasps, which serve as natural enemies and are crucial for ecosystem functioning. Here we show that sublethal doses of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid impair sexual com...

The quality of hosts for a parasitoid wasp may be influenced by attributes such as host size or species, with high successful development usually coincident larger offspring. This is not always the case: Scelionid Trissolcus basalis, oviposition in eggs Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Halyomorpha halys, rather than normal host, Southern Green Nezara viridula, leads to lower offspring survival, but ...

1. The strength of interaction between the specialist parasitoid Cotesia melitaearum and the host butterfly Melitaea cinxia is influenced by the coincidence of the adult stage of the parasitoid with the larval stage of the host. 2. We show that there is great variation in this developmental synchrony among local populations and among years, ranging from complete synchrony to complete asynchrony...

a survey was conducted to identify parasitoids of leafminers in shiraz region during spring 2005. the specimens of the eulophid parasitoid wasp, diglyphus poppoea walker, were reared from wheat leaves infested by agromyza ambigua fallã©n (dip.: agromyzidae) larvae in pole-fasa, zarghan and zafarabad regions. this parasitoid, which is recorded for the first time from iran, was identified by genc...

1. Cyclic dynamics of various periods are pervasive in many insect populations where interactions with natural enemies are known to be important. How stage-structured processes within the host population, such as competition and cannibalism, affect these interactions has received little attention so far. 2. Using the well-studied laboratory host–parasitoid system of Plodia interpunctella and Ve...

The relationship between parasitoid wasps and polydnaviruses constitutes one of the few known mutualisms between viruses and eukaryotes. Viral particles are injected with the wasp eggs into parasitized larvae, and the viral genes thus introduced are used to manipulate lepidopteran host physiology. The genome packaged in the particles is composed of 35 double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) circles produce...

Maternally transmitted endosymbionts of insects are ubiquitous in nature and play diverse roles in the ecology and evolution of their hosts. To persist in host lineages, many symbionts manipulate host reproduction to their advantage (e.g. cytoplasmic incompatibility and male-killing), or confer fitness benefits to their hosts (e.g. metabolic provisioning and defense against natural enemies). Re...

It has been reported that the aphelinid wasp Eertmocerus mundus parasitizes all four nymphal instars of the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Biotype B), with 3rd instars being the preferred hosts. The parasitoid lays its egg on the leaf underneath the host nymph. First instars hatch and later penetrate the whitefly. Previous studies have shown that the initiation of parasitoid penetration...