An Introduction to Parasitism
Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin in Parasitology, 2023
More complex examples are known in which a host insect such as the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum can harbor a nested set of parasites. Within the aphid is a larva of the parasitoid wasp, Aphidius smithi. This larva can in turn be infected by the larva of another parasitoid wasp, Alloxysta victrix (Figure 1.9). This hyperparasite can be colonized by larvae of a “hyper-hyperparasite,” Asaphes californicus, yet another parasitoid wasp. Given that A. californicus likely harbors a bacterium in its gut that might itself support a bacteriophage infection, a single aphid might conceivably support five nested levels of parasitism. Note the use of the term “parasitoid.” A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant amount of its life on or within a single host, often sterilizing it, often killing it and sometimes fully consuming it in the process. It then leaves the host and often has a free-living period of existence. As discussed later, parasitoids have many of the properties we associate with parasites but are often more detrimental to their hosts.
Beneficial Use of Viruses
Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin in Parasitology, 2015
More complex examples are known in which a host insect such as the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum harbors a nested set of parasites. Within the aphid is a larva of the parasitoid wasp, Aphidius smithi. This larva can in turn be infected by the larva of another parasitoid wasp, Alloxysta victrix. This hyperparasite can be colonized by larvae of a hyper-hyperparasite, Asaphes californicus, yet another parasitoid wasp. Given that A. californicus likely harbors a bacterium in its gut that might itself support a bacteriophage infection, a single aphid might conceivably support five nested levels of parasitism. Note the use of the term parasitoid. A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant amount of its life on or within a single host, often sterilizing it, often killing it, and sometimes fully consuming it in the process. It then leaves the host and often has a free-living period of existence. As discussed later, parasitoids have many of the properties we associate with parasites, but are often more detrimental to their hosts.
Population and Community: Count Variables
Song S. Qian, Mark R. DuFour, Ibrahim Alameddine in Bayesian Applications in Environmental and Ecological Studies with R and Stan, 2023
We explore the multinomial response variable model through three examples. The first example is developed based on a study of insect oviposition behavior in evolutionary ecology. The data for this example includes observed number of eggs laid by a species of wasp. This species of wasp is an insect parasitoid, which lays eggs in or on the eggs, larvae, pupae, or adults of other insects. The number of eggs they laid in each host is known as the clutch size. Some parasitoids are used for biological control of insect pests in orchards and other agricultural settings. On the one hand, the number of eggs laid in a host can affect the survival and fitness of the offspring. The ecological hypothesis is that the clutch size is evolved to produce the maximum number of offspring from each host that are fit to further propagate the population. Too many eggs will lead to competition among offspring for the limited resource (reducing the fitness of offspring), too few eggs constitutes a waste of the resource. On the other hand, the number of eggs a parasitoid lays in a single host can be affected by other factors. It takes time and effort for a parasitoid to find a host and then locate suitable spots on the host to lay eggs. Laying too few eggs would cost the parasitoid time and energy. Hilborn and Mangel [1997] used data from an observational study of a number of wasps to learn whether the clutch size is also a function of numbers of eggs each insect carried (egg complements).
Sub-lethal effects of thiamethoxam on Apis mellifera Linnaeus
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Amit Choudhary, Bharathi Mohindru, Ashok Kumar Karedla, Jaspal Singh, Pardeep K. Chhuneja
Insect pollinators have a mutualistic relationship with plants. At the same time, there are many insects that have a parasitic relationship. Plant protection chemicals, especially synthetic pesticides, do play a key role in keeping these pests under check and ensuring food security. The discovery of insecticidal properties of DDT in 1939, a contact organochlorine compound acting on Na+ ion channel in the insect nervous system, opened new vistas of crop protection. Neonicotinoids, developed by taking nithiazine as the lead structure, are comparatively a newer generation of insecticides discovered at the end of the 20th century. These insecticides derived their name due to their structural similarity with nicotine. These are specific for insects because they act on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors which are present in the insect nervous system. The absence of desired receptor sites coupled with a fast depletion rate from tissues (half-life 2–6 h) makes these chemicals safe for mammals. The median lethal dose (LD50) oral for rat = 1563 mg/kg body weight (FAO 2021) in comparison to generic insecticide DDT—113–800 mg/kg body weight (NPIC 2021).
Integrating inert dusts with other technologies in stored products protection
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2021
Masumeh Ziaee, Asgar Ebadollahi, Waqas Wakil
Very few researches have been conducted on the application of DEs in integrated with parasitoids. The parasitoid of rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.), Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) showed sensitivity to Protect-It formulation of DE. So that, the longevity of parasitoid female adults, parasitization rate of the weevils, and parasitoid progeny production was significantly suppressed in the treated wheat (Perez-Mendoza et al. 1999). Therefore, application of DE will not only reduce the efficiency of biological control agents, but will also contaminate food. However, the appropriate application of natural enemies could reduce the contamination of stored commodities with parasitoid wasps (Scholler 2010).
Consequence of emergence pattern on inbreeding risk in the aphid parasitoid Aphidius matricariae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)
Published in Chronobiology International, 2019
Delphine Bourdais, Thierry Hance
In insect parasitoids, numerous life history traits are host-constrained (Hance et al. 2007). For instance, mating depends on the spatial distribution of the host and the way female distributes eggs inside the host population (Boulton et al. 2015; Godfray 1994; Wajnberg 2006). Females of solitary species usually lay a single egg in each solitary host and newly emerged adults must disperse from their natal patch to find a mate (Godfray and Cook 1997). In such species, competition for mates is ubiquitous for all individuals throughout the whole population. Conversely, in solitary parasitoids that develop in a quasi-gregarious fashion (when females lay a single egg per host and hosts are clumped) and gregarious parasitoids (when females lay several eggs in each solitary host), emerging together on the natal patch facilitates the finding of a partner and saves time. Thus, adults may mate totally or partially on their natal patch (Boulton et al. 2015; Hamilton 1967; Le Ralec et al. 2010; Wajnberg 2006). However, it increases the competition between brothers to mate with their sisters (Local Mate Competition, LMC, Hamilton; 1967; Werren 1980) and the probability for inbreeding (Beck 1991; Doyon and Boivin 2005), situation already described by Hamilton in 1967 as extreme biofacies. So, for species presenting a risk of inbreeding depression, selection should lead to the avoidance of mating on the emergence patch. Partners may mate with non-related individuals if they are able to distinguish them. Otherwise, we can expect a rapid dispersal of the emergence zone. The study of emergence patterns and the time spent by male and females on the place of emergence may thus provide interesting insights on the mating structure in this case.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Metamorphosis
- Parasitism
- Parasitoid Wasp
- Paralysis
- Prognosis
- Evolutionary Ecology
- Host
- Exaptation
- Fitness
- Parasitic Castration