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Cleptoparasitism increases the host finding ability of a polyphagous parasitoid species, Rhopalicus tutela (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

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Abstract

Host finding abilities were investigated in the braconid Coeloides bostrichorum and the pteromalid Rhopalicus tutela, two ectoparasitoid wasps attacking the late instar of the bark beetle Ips typographus. Under laboratory conditions, important differences in the host-searching behaviour of these species were found, R. tutela being highly mobile as compared to C. bostrichorum. In the presence of C. bostrichorum, R. tutela behaved as a cleptoparasitoid, displacing the females from their oviposition sites and stealing the hosts previously located by the braconid. This behaviour facilitated host finding in R. tutela and could partly explain the relative success of the polyphagous R. tutela when occurring with the more specialised C. bostrichorum.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Nick Mills, Jacques Pasteels, Guy Boivin and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. Special thanks to Marius Gilbert and Pierre Herman for technical and field assistance. Evelyne Hougardy was supported by Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l’Industrie et dans l’Agriculture (FRIA).

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  1. Evelyne Hougardy

    Present address: ESPM—Insect Biology, University of California, Wellman Hall 201, Berkeley, CA 94720–3112, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biologie des Communautés animales CP 160/12, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Evelyne Hougardy & Jean-Claude Grégoire

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  1. Evelyne Hougardy
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  2. Jean-Claude Grégoire
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Correspondence to Evelyne Hougardy.

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Communicated by R.F.A. Moritz

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Hougardy, E., Grégoire, JC. Cleptoparasitism increases the host finding ability of a polyphagous parasitoid species, Rhopalicus tutela (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 55, 184–189 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0688-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0688-y

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