Could life history strategies of parasitoids explain the ability to multiparasitize?

MELISA SUANS; FISCHBEIN DEBORAH; CORLEY JUAN

Congreso; ABS 2021 Virtual Conference; 2021

In nature, it is common that multiple parasitoids attack the same host. This ability to parasite the same host by conspecific females (superparasitism) or by heterospecific females (multiparasitism) could be adaptative under certain circumstances. For example, when the patch is depleted of unparasitized hosts, or when one of the parasitoid species is a superior competitor. In this experiment we evaluated, under laboratory conditions, the host foraging behavior of the parasitoid Megarhyssa nortoni (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) exposed to patches unparasitized or parasitized by Ibalia leucospoides (Hymenoptera: Ibaliidae). We hypothesize that M. nortoni as an idiobiont ectoparasitoid is a physiological superior competitor to the koinobiont endoparasitoid I. leucospoides. We found that the number of ovipositions, the total time spent exploiting the patch and the frequency of behaviors performed by M. nortoni females were similar in both treatments. Our results show that the potential ability of M. nortoni to multiparasitize could explain the success of establishment in different regions where it was introduced to control an exotic pest.