Elsevier

Biological Control

Volume 1, Issue 2, August 1991, Pages 144-152
Biological Control

The role of host endocrine factors in the development of polyembryonic parasitoids

https://doi.org/10.1016/1049-9644(91)90113-EGet rights and content

Abstract

Polyembryony is a form of development in which a single egg gives rise to multiple individuals. In the Hymenoptera, polyembryonic species are found in the families Braconidae, Platygasteridae, Encyrtidae, and Dryinidae. The host ranges, morphology, and number of progeny produced per egg differ considerably among polyembryonic species, but they all appear to share a few developmental features. Most importantly, development can be divided into a proliferative phase in which multiple embryos form and a differentiation phase in which each embryo synchronously initiates morphogenesis and develops into a larva. Examination of the literature strongly suggests that morphogenesis in polyembryonic parasitoids is synchronized with the stage at which the host molts to its final (ultimate) stadium and larval development is completed when the host initiates metamorphosis (holometabolous species) or molts to the adult stage (hemimetabolous species). More detailed studies with the polyembryonic encyrtid Copidosoma floridanum in its host, Trichoplusia ni, further indicate that embryo proliferation is synchronized with the host molting cycle and morphogenesis occurs after a large drop in the host juvenile hormone (JH) titer in the fourth (penultimate) stadium. Neck ligation of third stadium hosts prior to the critical period inhibited proliferation of C. floridanum embryos, whereas injection of 20-hydroxyecdysone stimulated proliferation. Application of the JH analog methoprene to the host during the fourth stadium delayed embryo morphogenesis, but the anti-JH fiuoromevalanolactone induced precocious morphogenesis.

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    Presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society o of America as part of a symposium entitled “Host /Parasitoid Interaction”, December 3, 1990, New Orleans, LA.

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