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Brood Guarding by an Adult Parasitoid Reduces Cannibalism of Parasitoid-Attacked Conspecifics by a Caterpillar Host

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Abstract

Adult female bethylid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) commonly guard their offspring until they develop into later immature stages to protect them from competing parasitoids and predators. Another possible mortality factor is from caterpillar larvae that cannibalize parasitized conspecific larvae. This study determined the effect of brood guarding on the occurrence of host cannibalism by using a brood guarding bethylid parasitoid Goniozus legneri and a non-guarding braconid parasitoid Habrobracon gelechiae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), both are gregarious ectoprasitoids that attack the obliquebanded leafroller Choristoneura rosaceana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). When a C. rosaceana larva parasitized by G. legneri was presented to a live conspecific larva, the frequency of cannibalism on the parasitized conspecific was lower in the presence than in the absence of a guarding female G. legneri. In contrast, when a C. rosaceana larva parasitized by H. gelechiae was presented to a live conspecific larva, the presence or absence of H. gelechiae did not affect cannibalism frequency. Cannibals did not gain a fitness advantage in terms of larval survival, developmental time, or body mass of developed pupae; therefore, cannibalism by the host larva may be a group defense against increased parasitism in subsequent population generations. We suggest that brood guarding by parasitoids can act as a broad defense strategy to protect offspring from the cannibalism of parasitized conspecifics by the host larvae.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the California Pistachio Commission, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and University of California IPM Grants Program for financial support.

Conflict of Interest

We have no known conflict of interest with the work presented herein.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Xin-Geng Wang, Sean M. Tomajan & Kent M. Daane

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  1. Xin-Geng Wang
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  2. Sean M. Tomajan
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  3. Kent M. Daane
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Correspondence to Kent M. Daane.

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Wang, XG., Tomajan, S.M. & Daane, K.M. Brood Guarding by an Adult Parasitoid Reduces Cannibalism of Parasitoid-Attacked Conspecifics by a Caterpillar Host. J Insect Behav 27, 826–837 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-014-9474-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-014-9474-0

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