© 1996 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
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Functional shifts in the use of parasitized hosts by a tephritid fly: the role of host quality
aDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona ucson, AZ 85721, USA bDepartment of Entomology, University of Hawaii Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
ABSTRACT
Superparasitism, a phenomenon in which parasitic insects lay eggs in already-exploited hosts, provides a useful context in which to examine the dynamics of parental investment. This study explored conditions under which female Mediterranean fruit flies (Ceratitis capitata) shift from avoiding superparasitism of host fruit to preferring it, even placing eggs direcdy into existing egg-laying cavities. An a priori hypothesis of costs and benefits was used to predict how use and avoidance of parasitized fruit would change in -response to changes in fruit size and ripeness. We predicted that avoidance would decrease with increasing fruit size, while use would increase with decreasing ripeness. Using a field-cage assay, ripeness was held constant and the size of host coffee berries manipulated. Avoidance of parasitized berries was significandy less pronounced on large berries than on small ones. In a second experiment, size was held constant and ripeness manipulated. On unripe berries, females deposited the majority of clutches directly into existing egg-laying cavities. On ripe berries, by contrast, the same females deposited most clutches in previously unparasitized fruit. Parallel patterns in the frequency of female-female contests were observed, supporting the notion that a fruit's value is determined by an interaction between fruit size or ripeness, on one hand, and the prior occurrence of eggs, on the other. Laboratory assays suggested that use of existing sites had advantages in terms of time savings; female behavior thus constitutes a relatively uncommon example of adaptive superparasitism in which parasitized hosts are actually preferred over unparasitized ones.[Behav Ecol 7: 235-242 (1996)]
Key words: Ceratitis capitata, competition, host-marking pheromone, parent-offspring conflict, parental investment, superparasitism, Tephritidae.
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