Abstract

Abstract Anagyrus sp. nov. nr. sinope Noyes & Menezes (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is a gregarious, koinobiont parasitoid of the Madeira mealybug, Phenacoccus madeirensis Green (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). We investigated effects of larval competition on development, survival, and progeny body size of the parasitoid over a range of brood sizes and sex ratios. We recorded the brood size, sex ratio, and fitness parameters of parasitoids developing from second instars and adult P. madeirensis. Adult mealybugs as hosts produce larger brood and progeny body sizes and more female progeny. Second instar P. madeirensis continued to develop after parasitism, and mummies achieved a more advanced developmental stage yielding parasitoid cohorts of larger brood and body sizes, female-biased sex ratio, and longer developmental time than mummies formed from younger host instars. Overall, the sexual composition within a brood had little or no effect on the development, survival and body size of the parasitoid progeny develo...

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