Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-l4ctd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-13T09:21:04.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Density and Spatial Relationships Between a Wasp Parasite and Its Housefly Host1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

John L. Madden  and
David Pimentel
John L. Madden
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology and Limnology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
David Pimentel
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology and Limnology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The density and spatial relationship between the wasp parasite, Nasonia vitripennis, and the housefly host, Musca domestica, were investigated. As parasite dispersion decreased in a defined space, parasitism increased from 30 to 76% and host survival decreased from an average of 65.0 to 18.9%. The number of host pupae producing parasite progeny and the survival of host pupae decreased as the proportion of small host pupae increased. With host numbers increasing and parasite numbers constant, the mean number of eggs deposited per host increased significantly from 31.25 to 87.25 and the number of stings increased from 2.25 to 8.00. As parasite density increased and host number remained constant, the number of hosts which were nor attacked declined from a mean of 2.2 with 1 parasite to none with 32 parasites. Host survival declined from about 50% at the 1:8 ratio of female parasites to hosts to no survival at the 2:1 ratio.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 97 , Issue 10 , October 1965 , pp. 1031 - 1037
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1965

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

DeBach, P., and Smith, H. S.. 1947. Effects of parasite population density on rate of change of host and parasite populations. Ecology 28: 290–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, R. L. 1954a. The effect of diet on egg maturation and resorption in Mormoniella vitripennis (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae). Quart. J. micr. Sci. 95: 459–468.Google Scholar
Edwards, R. L. 1954b. The host finding and ovipositional behaviour of Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae), a parasite of muscoid flies. Behaviour 7: 88–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, R. L. 1961. The area of discovery of two insect parasites Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) and Trichogamma evanescens Westwood, in an artificial environment. Canad. Ent. 93: 475–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, W. P., and Pimentel, D.. 1963. Some ecological attributes of a pteromalid parasite and its housefly host. Canad. Ent. 95: 208–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pimentel, D. 1961. Animal population regulation by the genetic feed-back mechanism. Amer. Nat. 95: 65–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pimentel, D., Nagel, W. P. and Madden, J. L.. 1963. Space-time structure of the environment and the survival of parasite-host systems. Amer. Nat. 97: 141–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smirnov, E., and Wladimirowa, M.. 1934. Studien über die Vernehrungs Fähig-Keit de Pteromalidae, Mormoniella vitripennis, (Walker). Z. wiss. Zool. 145: 507–522.Google Scholar
Wylie, H. G. 1958. Factors that affect host finding by Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae). Canad. Ent. 90: 597–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, H. G. 1962. An effect of host age on female longevity and fecundity in Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera, Pteromalidae). Canad. Ent. 94: 990–993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar