understanding of parameters that influence parasitoids fitness is necessary for mass rearing and effective use of parasitoids. host quality is an intrinsic feature that is determined by quantitative and qualitative differences in hosts. these differences can change nutritional resources available and consequently affect life history traits of parasitoid. in this study, parasitoid wasps lysiphle...

UNLABELLED Insects commonly harbor facultative bacterial endosymbionts, such as Wolbachia and Spiroplasma species, that are vertically transmitted from mothers to their offspring. These endosymbiontic bacteria increase their propagation by manipulating host reproduction or by protecting their hosts against natural enemies. While an increasing number of studies have reported endosymbiont-mediate...

Among the most common parasites of Drosophila in nature are parasitoid wasps, which lay their eggs in fly larvae and pupae. D. melanogaster larvae can mount a cellular immune response against wasp eggs, but female wasps inject venom along with their eggs to block this immune response. Genetic variation in flies for immune resistance against wasps and genetic variation in wasps for virulence aga...

Entomopathogenic nematodes are generally considered beneficial organisms. However, they can affect beneficial insects such as parasitoids. The interaction between the entomopathogenic nematodes Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar (Rhabditida: Heterorhabditidae) and Steinernema carpocapsae Weiser, and the parasitoid Microplitis rufiventris Kokujev (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was investigated in t...

Predators as diverse as snakes, scorpions, spiders, insects and snails manufacture venoms to incapacitate their prey. Most venoms contain a cocktail of neurotoxins and each neurotoxin is designed to target specific receptors in the nervous and muscular systems. Most neurotoxins act peripherally and interfere with the ability of the prey's nervous system to generate muscle contraction or relaxat...

Parasitoid wasps are taxonomically and biologically extremely diverse. A conceptual framework has recently been developed for understanding life-history evolution and diversification in these animals, and it has confirmed that each of two linked life-history traits - the mode of larval development and the temporal pattern of egg maturation - acts as an organiser of life-history. The framework h...

Many insects carry facultative bacterial symbionts, which provide benefits including resistance to natural enemies and abiotic stresses. Little is known about how these beneficial phenotypes are affected when biotic or abiotic threats occur simultaneously. The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) can host several well-characterized symbiont species. The symbiont known as X-type can protect against b...

Males of the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis showed no innate preference for blue versus yellow or for green versus brown. They learned to associate color with mates, but their ability to do so depended on the color used and the strength of the reward. Specifically, males learned to associate brown or green with a reward of many virgin females. With fewer females, fewer training periods, or...

braconidae (hymenoptera) communities at high altitudes in alfalfa fields of kerman province (iran) were analyzed. the communities were sampled by sweep netting in 2014 and 2015. samples were taken from three altitudinal transects: 1900–2300 m, 2400–2700 m and 2800–3100 m. a total of 1773 braconid specimens belonging to seven subfamilies were collected. alpha, beta and gamma diversities were ana...