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Effects of mealybug and female body sizes on host examination and offspring developmental performances in the gregarious hyperparasitoid Cheiloneurus nankingensis

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Abstract

Understanding how native hyperparasitoids are attuned to novel hosts has practical implications for the classical biological control of invasive pest insects. This research focuses on both host size and female parasitoid body size to examine their joint effects on host evaluation and offspring performance. The parasitoid is Cheiloneurus nankingensis, which is native to Asia and an obligate gregarious hyperparasitoid attacking Aenasius arizonensis, which parasitizes the mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis invasive to Asia. There was a quadratic ‘dome-shaped’ relationship between mealybug body size and both antenna-tap** and ovipositor-drilling frequencies and durations. Parasitoid body size did not affect these behaviors, except having a slight negative effect on ovipositor-drilling duration. Offspring egg-to-adult development time was similar for both large and small females when attacking large mealybugs, but it was longer for large females compared to small ones when attacking small mealybugs. Brood size at eclosion increased with both mealybug size and female size. Brood sex ratio (percent males) decreased with mealybug size while remaining unaffected by female size. The body size of adult offspring and their longevity increased with mealybug size while remaining unaffected by female size. These findings imply that mealybug size is much more relevant than female size to host examination behaviors and both aspects of size exert separate effects on brood allocation but an interaction to affect offspring developmental time.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Ian C. W. Hardy for his valuable suggestions in data analysis and help in straightening up the manuscript. We also thank Qi Guo and Yujia Lyu for their help in rearing insects. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFE0104900) awarded to L. M.

Funding

Funding was provided by Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 2017YFE0104900).

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  1. College of Plant Protection, Nan**g Agricultural University, Nan**g, 210095, People’s Republic of China

    Wenquan Qin, Tingting Yao, Ling Meng & Bao** Li

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  1. Wenquan Qin
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Contributions

BL and LM designed the study. WQ and TY collected and analyzed the data. WQ and BL wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Bao** Li.

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Qin, W., Yao, T., Meng, L. et al. Effects of mealybug and female body sizes on host examination and offspring developmental performances in the gregarious hyperparasitoid Cheiloneurus nankingensis. BioControl (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-024-10274-1

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