Abstract
The behavior ofMyiopharus doryphorae andM. aberrans, North American tachinid parasitoids of the Colorado potato beetle, was recorded under field and laboratory conditions throughout three growing seasons in western Massachusetts. Eight common behaviors associated with resting, searching, feeding, and larviposition were distinguished, which together accounted for nearly all daytime activity of the females of both tachinids. Several of these behaviors, and in particular larviposition, were closely related to temperature but differed between species. A sequence of five defensive behaviors by the different larval stages of the Colorado potato beetle prevented larviposition in 49% of resisted attempts and perhaps one-fourth of total larviposition attempts byMyiopharus species, yet both parasitoids were highly successful in allocating their progeny during most of the summer. Second- and third-instar beetle larvae were least effective in resisting larviposition. Females of bothMyiopharus species actively guarded recently parasitized hosts from otherMyiopharus females for a period of several minutes after larviposition during the last month of the growing season when second- and third-instar Colorado potato beetle larvae were most scarce. Laboratory studies based on the field observation that femaleM. aberrans doggedly pursued circum-diapausing adult beetles led to the first recorded account ofM. aberrans larvipositing in adult hosts. Flies gained access to a beetle’s vulnerable abdominal dorsum at the instant it lifted its elytra to initiate flight. The late-season switch ofM. aberrans to adult Colorado potato beetles contributed to a seasonal sequence of larviposition-related behaviors concordant with prevailing host densities, which should lend complementarity toM. doryphorae andM. aberrans as biological controls of pest populations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arthur, A. P. (1981). Host acceptance by parasitoids. In Nordlund, D. A., Jones, R. L., and Lewis, W. J. (eds.),Semiochemicals, Their Role in Pest Control, John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 97–115.
Biliotti, E., and Persoons, C. J. (1965). Possibilités d’utilisation deDoryphoraphaga doryphorae Riley dans la lutte biologique contre Doryphore.Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. (N.S.)1: 251–262.
Bruneteau, J. (1973). Recherches sur les enemis naturels du doryphore en Amerique.Ann. É Piphyt. Phytogén. 3: 113–135.
Bussart, J. E. (1937). The bionomics ofChaetophleps setosa Coquillett (Diptera: Tachinidae).Entomol. Soc. Am. Ann. 30: 285–295.
de Azevedo-Marques, L. A. (1933).Tenthredinidae mosca de Serra cuja larva ou falsa lagarte e nociva a varias especies do genero Tibouchina, Minist. Agr., Rio de Janeiro.
Dethier, V. G. (1963).The Physiology of Insect Senses, Methuen, London.
Godfray, H. C. J. (1994).Parasitoids: Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp. 284–285.
Gollands, B., Tauber, M. J., and Tauber, C. T. (1991). Seasonal cycles ofMyiopharus aberrans andM. doryphorae (Diptera: Tachinidae) parasitizing Colorado potato beetles in upstate New York.Biol. Control. 1: 153–163.
Gould, S. J., and Lewontin, R. C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme.Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 205: 581–598.
Grenier, S. (1988). Applied biological control with tachinid flies (Diptera, Tachinidae): A review.Anz. Schadl. Pflanz. Umwelt. 61: 49–56.
Harcourt, D. G. (1971). Population dynamics ofLeptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) in eastern Ontario III. Major population processes.Can. Entomol. 103: 1049–1061.
Herrebout, W. M. (1967). Habitat selection inEucarcelia rutilla Vill. (Diptera: Tachinidae). I. Observations on the occurrence during the season.Z. Angew. Ent. 60: 219–229.
Horton, D. R., and Capinera, J. C. (1987). Seasonal and host plant effects on parasitism of Colorado potato beetle byMyiopharus doryphorae (Riley) (Diptera: Tachinidae).Can. Entomol. 119: 729–734.
Horton, D. R., and Capinera, J. C. (1988). Effects of host availability and voltinism in a nonagricultural population of Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).J. Kans. Entomol. Soc. 61: 62–67.
Hosmer, D. W., and Lemeshow, D. (1989).Applied Logistic Regression, John Wiley & Sons. New York.
Houser, J. S., and Balduf, W. V. (1925). The striped cucumber beetle.Ohio Agr. Exp. Stat. Bull. 388: 241–364.
Jolivet, P. (1991). Le Doryphore menace l’AsieLeptinotarsa decemlineata Say 1824 (Col. Chrysomelidae).L’Entomologiste 47: 29–48.
Kelleher, J. S. (1960).Life History and Ecology of Doryphorophaga doryphorae(Riley), a Tachinid Parasite of the Colorado Potato Beetle, Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota. Minneapolis.
Kleinbaum, D. G., Kupper, L. L., and Muller, Q. E. (1982).Applied Regression Analysis and Other Multivariate Methods, PWS-Kent, Boston.
Lewis, W. J., Jones, R. L., Nordlund, D. A., and Sparks, A. N. (1975). Kairomones and their use for management of entomophagous insects. I. Evaluation for increasing rate of parasitization byTrichogramma species in the field.J. Chem. Ecol. 1: 343–360.
López, E. R. (1995).Behavioral Ecology of Myiopharus doryphoraeand Myiopharus aberrans,Tachinid Parasitoids of the Colorado Potato Beetle, Ph.D. dissertation. University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst.
López, E. R., Ferro, D. N., and Van Driesche, R. G. (1992). Overwintering biology of the Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) larval parasitoids,Myiopharus aberrans (Townsend) andMyiopharus doryphorae Riley (Diptera: Tachinidae).Entomophaga 37: 311–315.
López, E. R., Ferro, D. N., and Van Driesche, R. G. (1993). Direct measurement of Host and parasitoid recruitment for assessment of total losses due to parasitism in the Colorado potato beetleLeptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) andMyiopharus doryphorae (Riley) (Diptera: Tachinidae).Biol. Control 3: 85–92.
López, E. R., Ferro, D. N., and Van Driesche, R. G. (1995). Two tachinid parasitoids discriminate between parasitized and non-parasitized hosts.Entomol. Exp. Appl. 74: 37–45.
Matthews, R. W., and Matthews, J. R. (1988).Insect Behavior, Robert E. Krieger, Malabar, FL.
Monteith, L. C. (1958). Influence of host and its food plant on host finding byDrino bohemica Mesn. (Diptera: Tachinidae) and interaction of other factors.Proc. Int. Congr. Entomol. 2: 603–606.
Riley, C. V. (1869).First Annual Report on the Noxious, Beneficial, and Other Insects of the State of Missouri, Ellwood Kirby, Jefferson City, MO.
Salt, G. (1958). Parasite behavior and the control of insect pests.Endeavor 65: 145–148.
SAS Institute (1988).SAS/STAT User’s Guide, Statistics, Version 6.03, SAS Institute, Cary, NC.
Schmidt, P. (1913). Katalepsie der phasmiden.Biol. Zentralblatt 33: 193–207.
Schmidt, A. (1992). Neurotransmitters involved in movement detection in the visual system of an arthropod.Naturwissenschaften 79: 564–567.
Tamaki, G., Chauvin, R. L., and Burditt, A. K., Jr. (1983a). Field evaluation ofDoryphorophaga doryphorae (Diptera: Tachinidae), a parasite, and its host the Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).Environ. Entomol. 12: 386–389.
Tamaki, G., Chauvin, R. L., and Burditt, A. K., Jr. (1983b). Laboratory evaluation ofDoryphorophaga doryphorae (Diptera: Tachinidae), a parasite of the Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).Environ. Entomol. 12: 390–392.
van Alphen, J. M., and Vet, L. E. M. (1986). An evolutionary approach to host finding and selection. In Waage, J., and Greathead, D. (eds.),Insect Parasitoids, Academic Press, New York, pp. 23–61.
van Lenteren, J. C. (1976). The development of host discrimination and the prevention of superparasitism in the parasitePseudocoila bochei Weld.Neth. J. Zool. 26: 1–83.
Vasconcellos-Neto, J., and Jolivet, P. (1988). Une nouvelle stratégie de defense: la stratégie de defense annulaire (cycloalexie) chez quelque larve de Chrysomélides brasiliens.Bull. Soc. Entomol. France 92: 291–299.
Vet, E. L., and Groenewold, A. W. (1990). Semiochemicals and learning in parasitoids.J. Chem. Ecol. 16: 3119–3135.
Vinson, S. B. (1976). Host selection by insect parasitoids.Annu. Rev. Entomol. 21: 109–133.
Vinson, S. B. (1981). Habitat location. In Nordlund, D. A., Jones, R. L., and Lewis, W. J. (eds.),Semiochemicals, Their Role in Pest Control, John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 51–68.
Vinson, S. B., and Iwantsch, G. F. (1980). Host regulation by insect parasitoids.Q. Rev. Biol. 55: 143–165.
Voss, R. H., and Ferro, D. N. (1990). Ecology of migrating Colorado potato beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in western Massachusetts.Environ. Entomol. 19: 123–129.
Waage, J. K. (1978). Arrestment responses of a parasitoid,Nemeritis canescens, to a contact chemical produced by its hosts,Plodia interpunctella.Physiol. Entomol. 3: 135–146.
Waage, J. K. (1979). Foraging for patchily-distributed hosts by the parasitoid,Nemeritis canescens.J. Anim. Ecol. 48: 353–371.
Weber, D. C. (1992).Dispersal and Diet of the Colorado Potato Beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Weinstein, P. (1989). Cycloalexy in an Australian pergid sawfly (Hym. Pergidae).Bull. Ann. R. Belge Ent. 125: 53–60.
Wheeler, W. M., and Mann, W. M. (1923). A singular habit of sawfly larvae.Psyche 30: 9–13.
Zanen, P. O., Lewis, W. J., Cardé, R. T., and Mullinix, B. G. (1989). Beneficial arthropod behavior mediated by airborne semiochemicals. VI. Flight response of femaleMicroplitis croceipes [Cresson], a endoparasitoid ofHeliothis spp, olfactory stimulus conditions created with turbulent jet.J. Chem. Ecol. 15: 141–168.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
López, E.R., Roth, L.C., Ferro, D.N. et al. Behavioral ecology ofMyiopharus doryphorae (riley) andM. aberrans (townsend), tachinid parasitoids of the colorado potato beetle. J Insect Behav 10, 49–78 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765474
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765474