Abstract
Egg-laying decisions by female insects should balance aspects related to immature survival and foraging profitability of emerging larvae. Using field-captured individuals, we characterized the egg distribution of Istocheta aldrichi (Diptera: Tachinidae) on the body of its adult host, the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). We determined whether the pattern varies as a function of host sex and the number of eggs laid on a given host. Out of the 5667 eggs observed, 95.9% were located on the host pronotum. Furthermore, eggs on the pronotum were mostly positioned in the center of this sclerite and oriented perpendicular to the host body axis. The proportion of eggs placed on other parts of the host body increased with the number of eggs per host (superparasitism). Successful development of I. aldrichi into pupae was maximum for eggs laid on the host pronotum than for eggs laid on other parts of the host. Oviposition decisions in I. aldrichi are likely shaped by trade-offs between vulnerability to grooming by the host and foraging profitability of neonate larvae (i.e., their capacity to penetrate the host cuticle), but also by the mating and defensive behaviors of the Japanese beetle.
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Data Availability
Full datasets are available in .xlsx format in Supplementary materials 2 (Distribution of I. aldrichi eggs on the host body), 3 (Position and orientation of I. aldrichi eggs on host pronotum) and 4 (Pupation success of I. aldrichi).
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Jardin Botanique de Montréal and Nicolas Pomerleau for allowing us to access sampling sites. We also thank Elisabeth Guillemette, Flavie LeBlanc, Étienne Normandin and Patrick James for technical assistance, and Jeremy N. McNeil and anonymous reviewers for their useful comments regarding an earlier version of this manuscript.
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This work was supported by the Canada research chair in biological control to JB.
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All authors conceptualized and designed the research. SL and JD conducted the field sampling. MP, SL and JD analysed the data. All authors wrote and reviewed the manuscript.
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Pelletier, M., Legault, S., Doyon, J. et al. Where and Why do Females of the Parasitic Fly Istocheta aldrichi Lay Their Eggs on the Body of Adult Japanese Beetles?. J Insect Behav 36, 308–317 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-023-09841-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-023-09841-8