Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:01:34.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Host size-dependent sex allocation behaviour in a parasitoid: implications for Catolaccus grandis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) mass rearing programmes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

K.M. Heinz*
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77845-2475, USA
*
* Fax: 409 845 7977 E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

An often encountered problem associated with augmentative and inundative biological control programmes is the high cost of producing sufficient numbers of natural enemies necessary to suppress pest populations within the time constraints imposed by ephemeral agroecosystems. In many arrhenotokous parasitoids, overproduction of males in mass-rearing cultures inflates costs (per female) and thus limits the economic feasibility of these biological control programmes. Within the context of existing production technologies, experiments were conducted to determine if the sex ratio of Catolaccus grandis (Burks), an ectoparasitoid of the boll weevil Anthonomous grandis Boheman, varied as a function of boll weevil larval size. Results from natural and manipulative experiments demonstrate the following behavioural characteristics associated with C. grandis sex allocation behaviour: (i) female C. grandis offspring are produced on large size hosts and male offspring are produced on small hosts; (ii) whether a host is considered large or small depends upon the overall distribution of host sizes encountered by a female parasitoid; and (iii) female parasitoids exhibit a greater rate of increase in body size with host size than do male parasitoids. The observed patterns cannot be explained by sex-specific mortality of immature parasitoids developing on the different host size categories. In subsequent experiments, laboratory cultures of C. grandis exposed daily to successively larger sizes of A. grandis larvae produced successively greater female biased offspring sex ratios, cultures exposed daily to successively smaller sizes of host larvae produced successively greater male biased offspring sex ratios, and cultures exposed daily to equivalent host size distributions over time maintained a uniform offspring sex ratio. By increasing the average size of A. grandis larval hosts exposed to C. grandis by 2.5 mg per day in mass rearing cultures, the percentage of male progeny can be reduced from 33% to 23% over a period of four consecutive exposure days.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brunson, M.H. (1937) The influence of the instars of host larvae on the sex of progeny of Tiphia popilliavora. Science 86, 197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bull, J.J. (1981) Sex ratio evolution when fitness varies. Heredity 46, 926.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, J.R. (1993) Applied demography for biologists. 206 pp. New York, Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cate, J.R. (1987) A method of rearing parasitoids of boll weevil without the host plant. Southwestern Entomologist 12, 211215.Google Scholar
Cate, J.R., Krauter, P.C. & Godfrey, K.E. (1990) Pests of cotton. pp. 1729in Habeck, D.H., Bennett, F.D. & Frank, J.H.(Eds) Classical biological control in the southern United States. Southern Cooperative Series Bulletin 355. Gainesville, University of Florida.Google Scholar
Charnov, E.L. (1979) The genetical evolution of patterns of sexuality: Darwinian fitness. American Naturalist 113, 465480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charnov, E.L. (1982) The theory of sex allocation. 355 pp. Princeton, Princeton University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Charnov, E.L., Los-den Hartogh, R.L, Jones, W.T. & van den Assem, J. (1981) Sex ratio evolution in a variable environment. Nature 289, 2733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chewyreuv, I. (1913) Le rôle des femelles dans la détermination du sexe de leur descendance dans le groupe des Ichneumonides. Compte Rendu des Séances de la Société de Biologie 74, 695699.Google Scholar
Clausen, C.P. (1939) The effect of host size upon the sex ratio of hymenopterous parasites and its relation to methods of rearing and colonization. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 47, 19.Google Scholar
Cross, W.H. & Mitchell, H.C. (1969) Distribution and importance of Heterolaccus grandis as a parasite of the boll weevil. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 62, 235236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeBach, P. & Rosen, D. (1991) Biological control by natural enemies. 2nd edn.440 pp. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Flanders, S.E. (1956) The mechanisms of sex ratio regulation in the (parasitic) Hymenoptera. Insects Sociaux 3, 325334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R.A. (1930) The genetical theory of natural selection. 272 pp. Oxford, Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfray, H.C.J. (1994) Parasitoids: behavioural and evolutionary ecology. 473 pp. Princeton, Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, S.M., Morales-Ramos, J.A., King, E.G., Summy, K.R. & Rojas, M.G. (1995a) Biological parameters for mass propagation of Catolaccus grandis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Environmental Entomology 24, 13221327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, S.M., Morales-Ramos, J.A., King, E.G., Summy, K.R. & Rojas, M.G. (1995b) Biological basis for mass propagation of Catolaccus grandis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae): effects of parasitoid densities and host-parasitoid ratios. Environmental Entomology 24, 13331337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, W.D. (1967) Extraordinary sex ratios. Science 156, 477488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, W.L., Cross, W.H., McGovern, W.L. & Mitchell, H.C. (1973) Biology of Heterolaccus grandis in a laboratory culture and its potential as an introduced parasite of the boll weevil in the United States. Environmental Entomology 2, 112118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, B.H. (1987) Offspring sex ratios in parasitoid wasps. Quarterly Review of Biology 62, 367396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, B.H. (1993) Sex ratio manipulation by parasitoid wasps. pp. 418441in Wrensch, D.L. & Ebbert, M.(Eds) Evolution and diversity of sex ratio in insects mites. New York, Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, E.G. (1993) Augmentation of parasites and predators for suppression of natural enemies of arthropod pests. pp. 90100in Lumsdem, R.D. & Vaughn, J.L.(Eds) Pest management: biologically based technologies, Proceedings of Beltsville Symposium 28, 2–6 May 1993, Maryland. Washington, DC, American Chemical Society.Google Scholar
King, E.G., Hopper, K.R. & Powell, J.E. (1985) Analysis of systems for biological control of crop arthropod pests in the US by augmentation of predators and parasites. pp. 418441in Hoy, M.A. & Herzog, D.C.(Eds) Biological control in agricultural 1PM system. Orlando, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Morales-Ramos, J.A., Summy, K.A., Roberson, J., Cate, J.R. & King, E.G. (1992) Feasibility of mass rearing Catolaccus grandis. p. 724 in Proceedings, Beltwide Cotton Conferences.Memphis,National Cotton Council of America.Google Scholar
Morales-Ramos, J.A., Summy, K.R. & King, E.G. (1995) Estimating parasitism by Catolaccus grandis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) after inundative releases against the boll weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Environmental Entomology 24, 17181725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morales-Ramos, J.A., Greenberg, S.M. & King, E.G. (1996) Selection of optimal physical conditions for mass propagation of Catolaccus grandis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) aided by regression. Environmental Entomology 25, 165173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parrella, M.P., Heinz, K.M. & Nunney, L. (1992) Biological control through augmentative releases of natural enemies: a strategy whose time has come. American Entomologist 38, 172179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberson, J.L. & Harsh, D.K. (1993) Mechanized production process to encapsulate boll weevil larvae (Anthonomous grandis) for mass production of Catolaccus grandis (Burks). pp. 922923in Proceedings, Beltwide Cotton Conferences. Memphis, National Cotton Council of America.Google Scholar
Roberson, J.L. & Wright, J.E. (1984) Production of boll weevils, Anthonomous grandis grandis. pp. 188192in King, E.G. & Leppla, N.C.(Eds) Advances and challenges in insect rearing. New Orleans, USDA-ARS.Google Scholar
Sokal, R.R. & Rohlf, F.J. (1991) Biometry. 2nd edn.859 pp. San Francisco, W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
StatSoft, . (1994) STATISTICA for windows, version 4.5. 3958 pp. Tulsa, StatSoft.Google Scholar
Summy, K.R., Morales-Ramos, J.A. & King, E.G. (1992) Ecology and potential impact of Catolaccus grandis (Burks) on boll weevil infestations in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Southwestern Entomologist 17, 279288.Google Scholar
Summy, K.R., Morales-Ramos, J.A. & King, E.G. (1995) Suppression of boll weevil infestations on South Texas cotton by augmentative releases of the exotic parasite Catolaccus grandis (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Biological Control 5, 523529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trivers, R.L. & Willard, D.E. (1973) Natural selection of parental ability to vary the sex ratio of offspring. Science 179, 9092.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Driesche, R.G. & Bellows, T.S. Jr (1996) Biological control. 539 pp. New York, Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Lenteren, J.C. (1986) Parasitoids in the greenhouse: successes with seasonal inoculative release systems. pp. 341374in Waage, J. & Greathead, D.(Eds) Insect parasitoids. Orlando, Academic Press. (Symposium, Royal Entomological Society of London No. 13).Google Scholar
Waage, J.K. (1986) Family planning in parasitoids: adaptive patterns of progeny and sex allocation, pp. 6395. in Waage, J. & Greathead, D. (Eds) Insect parasitoids. Orlando, Academic Press. (Symposium, Royal Entomological Society of London No. 13).Google Scholar
Werren, J.H. & Charnov, E.L. (1978) Facultative sex ratios and population dynamics. Nature 272, 349350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed