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Video Q&A ViewAttendees 1

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

10-Minute Paper

SysEB: Behavior and Biocontrol On-Demand Presentations

Males of the parasitoid wasp, Nasonia vitripennis, can detect which fly hosts contain females

On-Demand
On-Demand

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Garima Prazapati

    Senior Research Fellow
    Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
    Mohali, Punjab, India

    • Co-Author(s)

  • AY

    Ankit Yadav

    Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
    Mohali, Punjab, India

  • AA

    Anoop Ambili

    Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
    Mohali, Punjab, India

  • AS

    Abhilasha Sharma

    Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
    Mohali, Punjab, India

  • RR

    Rhitoban Raychoudhury

    Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
    Mohali, Punjab, India

The reproductive success of a male is limited by the number of females it can mate with. Thus, males deploy elaborate strategies to maximize access to females. In the haplodiploid wasp genus, Nasonia, which are parasitoids of cyclorrhaphous flies, such a reproductive strategy is thought to be restricted to competition among males for access to females in the natal patch. This study investigates whether additional strategies are present, especially the capability to identify which fly hosts contain adult females inside. Behavioural assays revealed that only one out of the four species, N. vitripennis, can distinguish which hosts specifically have adult female wasps indicating a species-specific reproductive capability. GC/MS analyses and behavioural assays suggest that chemical cues, in the form of female-signature cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), are used which are possibly emanating from within the fly puparium. Further assays indicated that N. vitripennis males can also detect differences in the concentrations of female-signature CHCs, enabling them to possibly seek out hosts with maximum number of females. This study, therefore, uncovers a previously unknown reproductive strategy in one of the most widely-studied parasitoid wasp.