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Galls as a Disputed Resource for Female Parasitoid Wasps Contests


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Authors

Dell’Aglio, Denise Dalbosco 
Mendonça Jr., Milton de Souza 

Abstract

We investigated how the parasitoid Torymus sp. (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) attacking galls of Schismatodiplosis lantanae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) on Lantana camara (Verbenaceae) behaves in the presence of a conspecific female competitor in the patch. Presence of a competitor greatly changed resident exploitation behavior. Wasps alone spent more time in gall exploitation behaviors (walk-antennate and probe) and in post-oviposition behaviors (stationary and groom), and when intruders were present they spent more time walking. The attack strategy was trough threatening: raising wings and pointing the antennae towards the opponent. Different from theoretical expectations, residents were not always the attacker. Number of galls in the patch and female wasp size did not affect contest outcomes, although gall exploitation time and time on leaf were significant factors for the probability of having attacks. Overall, the study highlights the fact that intruder interest in the host was the main cause of contests and also this is a unique report both in terms of the target species and the nature of the disputed resource, a gall-inducer inside a singular spatial unit, the gall.

Description

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Scientific Research Publishing via http://dx.doi.org/ 10.4236/ae.2015.33010

Keywords

31 Biological Sciences, 4103 Environmental Biotechnology, 3103 Ecology, 3109 Zoology, 41 Environmental Sciences

Journal Title

Advances in Entomology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2331-1991
2331-2017

Volume Title

3

Publisher

Scientific Research Publishing, Inc.
Sponsorship
We thank all anonymous referees, Marlène Goubault, Paula Beatriz de Araujo, Geraldo Luiz Gonçalves Soares and Luiz Ernesto Costa Schmidt for suggestions and comments. Simone Mundstock Jahnke and Valmir Antonio Costa for helping in wasp identification. This study was supported by CAPES.