Title of Document: THE ROLE OF HOST-PLANT SPECIES IN THE DIFFERENTIATION OF SYMPATRIC POPULATIONS OF HYMENOPTERAN PARASITOIDS. Raul F. Medina, PhD, 2005 Directed By: Professor, Pedro Barbosa, Department of Entomology The biology and ecology of insect parasitoids is strongly influenced by the hostplant species on which their herbivorous hosts occur. Hymenopteran parasitoids in particular, presen...

During their larval development, endoparasitoids are known to dispose of host resources in several different ways. Some parasitoid wasps consume most or all tissues of the host, whereas others consume a small fraction of host resources and either ensure that the hostmoves away from the pupation site or allow the host to remain close to the parasitoid cocoon(s). Using a single host species, Myth...

Polydnaviruses (PDVs) are symbionts of parasitoid wasps that function as gene delivery vehicles in the insects (hosts) that the wasps parasitize. PDVs persist in wasps as integrated proviruses but are packaged as circularized and segmented double-stranded DNAs into the virions that wasps inject into hosts. In contrast, little is known about how PDV genomic DNAs persist in host cells. Micropliti...

the use of resistant plant cultivars and parasitoids could be an effective strategy in ipm of liriomyza sativa blanchard. cucumber is a preferable host for this insect. in this research, antixenosis resistance of 17 cultivars of cucumber was evaluated to l. sativae under greenhouse condition. results indicated that there were significant differences between cultivars with regard to the number o...

Clonal diversity in asexual populations may be maintained if different clones are favoured under different environmental conditions. For aphids, parasitoids are an important variable of the biotic environment. To test whether parasitoids can mediate selection among host clones, we used experimental populations consisting of 10 clones of the peach-potato aphid, Myzus persicae, and allowed them t...

Abstract Drought events have the potential to mediate tri-trophic interactions. Changes in plant quality influence herbivore performance, which affects prey availability and for natural enemies. Parasitoid wasps are particularly vulnerable these changes since their development is inextricably linked that of prey. However, we know little about indirect effects water limitation on parasitoid espe...