Life cycle and sexual mode adaptations of the parasitic mite Ensliniella parasitica (Acari: Winterschmidtiidae) to its host, the eumenine wasp Allodynerus delphinalis (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Abstract

We investigated two important life-history traits in parasites, i.e., life cycle and reproductive mode, that should be adapted to specific hosts using the parasitic mite Ensliniella parasitica Vitzthum, 1925 and the host wasp Allodynerus delphinalis (Giraud, 1866) in field- and laboratory-reared nests. The life cycle of E. parasitica was synchronized with that of the wasp; this synchronization facilitated dispersal. Life-cycle plasticity of the mite was low and development was halted on dead hosts. There was no significant difference in wasp juvenile mortality between mite-laden and mite-free individuals under controlled conditions. Therefore, the mites were suggested to be not toxic to the hosts. We confirmed for the first time that virgin female mites ovoviviparously produce arrhenotokous males the size of a protonymph to compensate for the absence of males in a cell. Although no obvious antagonistic behaviour between large (i.e., sexual) and small males was observed, large males mounted females on late prepupal hosts, about 1–2 days before either the egg or the small male was laid. We conclude that the adaptations of the mite to its host involve life-cycle synchronization, low-impact parasitism, and facultative parthenogenesis.