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Oviposition Sites of the Cypress Seed Bug Orsillus maculatus and Response of the Egg Parasitoid Telenomus gr. Floridanus

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Abstract

Phytophagous insects have many strategies to escape parasitoids, for example by hiding eggs into plant tissues, but oviposition in holes made by another insect is rather scarce. The cypress seed bug Orsillus maculatus Fieber (Heteroptera: Lygaeidae) is strictly dependent on the availability of cones of Cupressus sempervirens L. to oviposit. Females lay eggs either in exit holes cut through the cone scale by emerging adults of the cypress seed chalcid, Megastigmus wachtli Seitner (Hymenoptera: Torymidae), or on the inner side of scales of partly open cones. A recently discovered egg parasitoid belonging to the genus Telenomus has been shown to attack bug eggs in both oviposition sites. In this paper we investigated the parasitoid performance according to oviposition sites. Field samplings were conducted in two evergreen cypress orchards located in the south of France. The distribution and condition of the egg patches were compared between the two locations and oviposition sites. Seed bugs preferred to oviposit in emergence holes of M. wachtli, and parasitoid performance was higher in eggs laid on cone scales. The chalcid emergence holes seemed to ensure bug eggs with enemy-free space. Oviposition site selection could be an adaptive strategy to escape parasitoid attack.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to J.-P. Raimbault and C. Lézier for their help in field samplings. G. Rouault was supported by a scholarship from Région Centre in France and A. Battisti by the grant Ecocypre of the Trento district, Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, Unité de Zoologie Forestière, BP 20619 Ardon, 45166, Olivet Cedex, France

    Gaëlle Rouault & Alain Roques

  2. DAAPV-Entomology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Andrea Battisti

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  1. Gaëlle Rouault
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  2. Andrea Battisti
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Correspondence to Alain Roques.

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Rouault, G., Battisti, A. & Roques, A. Oviposition Sites of the Cypress Seed Bug Orsillus maculatus and Response of the Egg Parasitoid Telenomus gr. Floridanus . Biocontrol 52, 9–24 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-006-9002-z

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