The exploitation of parental care is common in avian and insect 'cuckoos' and these species engage in a coevolutionary arms race. Caterpillars of the lycaenid butterfly Niphanda fusca develop as parasites inside the nests of host ants (Camponotus japonicus) where they grow by feeding on the worker trophallaxis. We hypothesized that N. fusca caterpillars chemically mimic host larvae, or some par...

Gall wasps, or cynipids, form the second largest radiation of galling insects with more than 1300 described species. According to current views, the first cynipids were phytophagous and developed in herb stems of the Asteraceae without modifying plant growth or development. The first galls were supposedly multichambered stem swellings, and subsequent trends involved increase in gall complexity ...

The chestnut gall-wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, an insect native of China, was found in 2002 for the first time in Europe, and specifically in North western Italy (Cuneo province). The cynipid lays eggs into dormant buds and, in the following year, causes the development of galls on leaves, sprouts and inflorescences, due to the feeding activity of larvae. The wasp has an effect both on...

Populations on islands often exhibit lower levels of genetic variation and ecomorphological divergence compared to their mainland relatives. While phenotypic differentiation in characters, such as size or shape among insular organisms, has been well studied, insular differentiation in quantitative reproductive traits involved in chemical communication has received very little attention to date....

Wolbachia are maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria of arthropods and nematodes. In arthropods, they manipulate the reproduction of their hosts to facilitate their own spread in host populations, causing cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis induction, feminization of genetic males and male-killing. In this study, we investigated Wolbachia infection and studied wsp (Wolbachia surfa...

The systematics of South American fire ants (Solenopsis saevissima species-group) has been plagued by difficulties in recognizing species and their relationships on the basis of morphological characters. We surveyed mtDNA sequences from 623 individuals representing 13 described and undescribed species within the species-group and 18 individuals representing other major Solenopsis lineages to ge...

The systematics of South American Wre ants (Solenopsis saevissima species-group) has been plagued by diYculties in recognizing species and their relationships on the basis of morphological characters. We surveyed mtDNA sequences from 623 individuals representing 13 described and undescribed species within the species-group and 18 individuals representing other major Solenopsis lineages to gener...

Plant galls are insect-induced tumor-like growths of plant tissue which nourish and protect developing insect larvae. In all published studies to date, gall size varies (1). Numerous studies demonstrate a positive relationship between success (probability of emergence of the gall-former) and gall size (2-4). Typically, increasing gall size is interpreted as an adaptation to facilitate parasitoi...

Cladistic analysis of the European species ofPolistes is used to investigate the evolution .of social parasitism in the genus. The three species of social parasites (formerly the genus Sulcopolistes) are all inquilines: lacking a worker caste, and dependent on uSUIping the colony of a host species to obtain a worker force. El:vlERY'S Rule states that social parasites are more closely related to...