Diverse parasite taxa share hosts both at the population level and within individual hosts, and their interactions, ranging from competitive exclusion to facilitation, can drive community structure and dynamics. Emergent pathogens have the potential to greatly alter community interactions. We found that an emergent fungal entomopathogen dominated pre-existing lethal parasites in populations of ...

Full-length mariner-like elements (MLEs) were identified from both a parasitoid wasp, Ascogaster reticulatus, and its moth host, Adoxophyes honmai. MLEs were detected in two related Tortricid moths, but not in another Ascogaster species. The MLEs of A. reticulatus and A. honmai were 97.6% identical in DNA sequence. This high similarity suggests a recent horizontal transfer, probably from the mo...

pauesia antennata mukerji (hymenoptera, braconidae) as the unique parasitoid of the giant brown peach aphid, pterochloroides persiace cholodkovsky (hemiptera, aphididae) is considered to be the most effective biological control agent of this pest. in this study, the assessment of selected biological parameters of p. antennata demonstrated that the longevity of mature parasitoid was 3.90 ± 0.22,...

Host plasma proteins and protein digestion in larval parasitoids were studied during trophic interactions of the ectoparasitoid Habrobracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), with a host, larvae of the Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). We could detect no apparent differences in host hemolymph protein patterns up to 72 h after paralysation and/or parasit...

Parasitoids locate inconspicuous hosts in a heterogeneous habitat using plant volatiles, some of which are induced by the hosts. Hyposoter horticola Gravenhost (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is a parasitoid of the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Melitaea cinxia lays eggs in clusters on leaves of Plantago lanceolata L. (Lamiales: Plantaginaceae) and Ve...

Many parasites modify their host behaviour to improve their own transmission and survival, but the proximate mechanisms remain poorly understood. An original model consists of the parasitoid Dinocampus coccinellae and its coccinellid host, Coleomegilla maculata; during the behaviour manipulation, the parasitoid is not in contact with its host anymore. We report herein the discovery and characte...

The extraordinary diversity of tropical herbivores may be linked to hostplant specialization driven in part by variation in pressure from natural enemies. We quantified levels of host-specificity and parasitoid attack for the specialist herbivore, Eois (Geometridae). The goals of this research were to examine: 1) whether Eois are specialized on the genus Piper (Piperaceae) and if hostplant spec...

We record for the first time species Pimpla croceiventris (Cresson, 1868), P. golbachi (Porter, 1970), and sumichrasti Cresson, 1874, belonging to Pimplini tribe (Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae), in northeastern Brazil. These have been recorded south southeast of Brazil, except , which has also north country. Regarding development larvae its physiological characteristics, Fabricius, 1804 is one most ...

Parasitoid development, parasitoid-induced host mortality and parasitoid progeny emergence were determined at five constant temperatures for Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Sanders, Muscidifurax zaraptor Kogan and Legner, Spalangia cameroni Perkins and Spalangia endius Walker using pupae of the house fly, Musca domestica L., as hosts. At temperatures of 20, 25, 30 and 35 degrees C the median de...

Ecological theory suggests that frequency-dependent predation, in which more common prey types are disproportionately favored, promotes the coexistence of competing prey species. However, many of the earlier empirical studies that investigated the effect of frequency-dependent predation were short-term and ignored predator-prey dynamics and system persistence. Therefore, we used long-term obser...