Herlin Weri, Yoshimura Hideto, Yamada Yoshihiro Y
Insect Ecology Laboratory, Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University, Tsu, Mie, 514-8507, Japan.
Department of Agroecotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Sriwijaya, Indralaya, South Sumatra, 30662, Indonesia.
Naturwissenschaften. 2019 Sep 3;106(9-10):52. doi: 10.1007/s00114-019-1648-3.
Parasitoid researchers have generally thought that the body size of the mother parasitoid does not affect the fitness performance of the progeny during the immature stage, as long as the progeny develop in the same environment. We reveal for the first time that this is not true for the parasitoid Echthrodelphax fairchildii (Hymenoptera: Dryinidae), which is parasitic on planthoppers. Large females ensured an increased survival rate for their progeny during the immature stage and a large body size at adult emergence. Maternal body size differentially affected the body sizes and survival rates of male and female progeny. Small females did not produce female progeny, and the survival rate of the female progeny increased more steeply with increasing maternal body size than that of the male progeny. Meanwhile, the body size of male progeny increased more steeply with increasing maternal body size. The influence of maternal body size on progeny survival to adult emergence has never been reported in insects before. In addition, large females were more likely to lay female eggs, suggesting that females control the sex ratio of progeny in response to their own body size.
寄生蜂研究人员普遍认为，只要子代在相同环境中发育，寄生蜂母体的体型在子代未成熟阶段不会影响其适合度表现。我们首次揭示，对于寄生在飞虱上的寄生蜂费氏埃姬小蜂（膜翅目：螯蜂科）而言并非如此。大型雌蜂能确保其子代在未成熟阶段有更高的存活率，且羽化时体型更大。母体体型对子代雌雄个体的体型和存活率有不同影响。小型雌蜂不产生雌性子代，雌性子代的存活率随母体体型增大的增幅比雄性子代更大。同时，雄性子代的体型随母体体型增大的增幅更大。此前在昆虫中从未报道过母体体型对子代羽化至成虫存活的影响。此外，大型雌蜂更有可能产雌性卵，这表明雌蜂会根据自身体型控制子代的性别比例。
