Parasitism of damselflies (Enallagma boreale) by gregarines: sex biases and relations to adult survivorship

Abstract

We studied host damselflies Enallagma boreale (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) and their gregarine parasites (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinidae) to elucidate the causes and consequences of any sex biases in parasitism of adult hosts. Larvae of both sexes were highly infected, but there was no difference between male and female larvae in either prevalence or intensity of gregarine infections. Newly emerged adults had few or no parasites, thereby setting the stage for investigating accumulation of parasites by adults. Adult females had a higher prevalence and intensity of infection by gregarines than did males, but only on 1 (of 2) days when the potential confounding factor of host age was controlled for. Both adult males and females showed a positive correlation between longevity under conditions of food stress and the number of gregarines they initially carried. This finding may be explained if the food ingested with the infective cysts is more beneficial than the parasites are harmful, and it also has implications for investigating sex biases in numbers of trophically transmitted parasites of such insects.