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Precise sex ratios manifested by several encyrtid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) of brown soft scale, Coccus hesperidum L. (Hemiptera: Coccidae)

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Abstract

We examined whether several facultatively gregarious encyrtid (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) endoparasitoids of brown soft scale, Coccus hesperidum L., manifest precise sex allocation under field conditions. Metaphycus luteolus (Timberlake), Metaphycus angustifrons (Compere), Metaphycus stanleyi (Compere), and Microterys nietneri (Motshulsky) evince brood sex ratios that are female-biased and extremely precise (low variance in the number of sons per host). Typically, this sex allocation pattern is attributed to extreme local mate competition (LMC) in which only one foundress exploits a patch of hosts and mating occurs mostly between her offspring. However, such a pattern of sex allocation was not detected for Metaphycus helvolus (Compere). Also, a large proportion of the broods in all five species contained only daughters; thus, an excess of male-only broods was expected if unmated females (i.e., females that can produce only sons) contribute offspring before mating. All-male broods were rare in our samples. This finding coupled with the life history characteristics of these wasps, such as the exploitation of aggregated hosts and the long life span and mobility of males, suggest that nonlocal mating is frequent. Our empirical work suggests that it is advantageous to allocate precise sex ratios in cases in which mating opportunities for males are not restricted to their natal host and/or when multiple foundresses exploit large patches of hosts. Limited theoretical work also supports this prediction but more detailed studies of this taxon’s mating structure and other life history characteristics are necessary to understand their sex allocation decisions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Leonard Nunney and Jocelyn Millar (UCR) for reviewing an earlier draft of this manuscript; and Ian Hardy and Kees Nalgerkerke for their advice in the use of the Meelis test. We also thank an anonymous reviewer and David Shuker (University of Edinburgh, UK) for their helpful comments in a previous draft of the manuscript. This study was supported in part by a USDA National Research Initiative grant (USDA-NRI 2005-01006) awarded to RFL and Jocelyn Millar and by a California Citrus Research Board grant (CRB 5500-159) awarded to JGM and RFL. We also thank the Center for Biological Control, University of California, Berkeley, for the Robert Van den Bosch Scholarship in Biological Control, awarded to the senior author. The experiments conducted herein comply with the current laws of the USA.

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  1. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Apostolos Kapranas, P. Pacheco, L. D. Forster, J. G. Morse & R. F. Luck

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  1. Apostolos Kapranas
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Correspondence to R. F. Luck.

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Communicated by K. Ross

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Kapranas, A., Pacheco, P., Forster, L.D. et al. Precise sex ratios manifested by several encyrtid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) of brown soft scale, Coccus hesperidum L. (Hemiptera: Coccidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62, 901–912 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0514-z

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