Developmental relationships between Drosophila larvae and their endoparasitoid Leptopilina (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) as affected by crowding

Abstract

AbstractCrowding of Drosophila larvae modifies their suitability to the cynipid endoparasitoid Leptopilina boulardi. The success of parasitic development rises from 40% in uncrowded host larvae to 90% in crowded ones. Crowding reduces the imaginal size of both wasps and uninfested hosts, but it has opposite effects on their development time: That of flies is increased, whereas that of wasps is reduced.