Behavioural plasticity in the stinging act of female ectoparasitoids

Abstract

Abstract. The plasticity of the stinging behaviour of female Eupelmidae (Eupelmus vuilleti Crawford, E. orientalis Crawford Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) was analysed through the interrelationships of a parasitic community living on larval stage of Callosobruchus maculatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). In traditional African grainstores, Eupelmus females have at their disposal all the larval stages of their host. Their exploitation is revealed by the sting observed on the host caused by the ovipositor of parasitoid females. This stinging behaviour begins immediately on the adult female's emergence, and thereafter there is a daily increase in the number of hosts stung. Stinging activity is linked to the age of the available hosts, but not all of the hosts available are exploited by the two species studied. This absence of total exploitation could indicate a threshold of activity in the stinging acts which could be in part linked to the secretion activity of the poison glands of parasitoid female.In females of E. vuilleti and E.orientalis the stinging act is usually associated with egg‐laying. The relationship between stinging and egg‐laying is stronger in more advanced larval stages of the host.In the presence of parasitized hosts, females of E. orientalis and E.vuilleti can exhibit hyperparasitism. The majority of larvae (i.e. primary parasitoid) that have been hyperparasitized have been stung and a large number of them are completely inactive. However, E. vuilleti females deposited their eggs in the available space of the pupation chamber of the host. The neonatal larvae from these scattered eggs could exploit any available host without the female having ‘prepared the ground’ at the time of egg‐laying.In Eupelmidae, all this happens as if there were a complementary action between the females and the neonate which could, if necessary, reinforce and/or compensate for the deficiencies in the host exploitation by the female.