Braconid and Ichneumonid Parasitoid Wasps - Biology, Systematics, Evolution and Ecology

The Ichneumonoidea is a vast and important superfamily of parasitic wasps, with some 60,000 described species and estimated numbers far higher, especially for small-bodied tropical taxa. The superfamily comprises two cosmopolitan families - Braconidae and Ichneumonidae - that have largely attracted separate groups of researchers, and this, to a considerable extent, has meant that understanding of their adaptive features has often been considered in isolation. This book considers both families, highlighting similarities and differences in their
adaptations.
The classification of the whole of the Ichneumonoidea, along with most other insect orders, has been plagued by typology whereby undue importance has been attributed to particular characters in defining groups. Typology is a common disease of traditional taxonomy such that, until recently, quite a lot of taxa have been associated with the wrong higher clades. The sheer size of the group, and until the last 30 or so years, lack of accessible identification materials, has been a further impediment to research on all but a handful of 'lab rat' species usually cultured initially because of their potential in biological control.
New evidence, largely in the form of molecular data, have shown that many morphological, behavioural, physiological and anatomical characters associated with basic life history features, specifically whether wasps are ecto- or endoparasitic, or idiobiont or koinobiont, can be grossly misleading in terms of the phylogeny they suggest. This book shows how, with better supported phylogenetic hypotheses entomologists can understand far more about the ways natural selection is acting upon them.
This new book also focuses on this superfamily with which the author has great familiarity and provides a detailed coverage of each subfamily, emphasising anatomy, taxonomy and systematics, biology, as well as pointing out the importance and research potential of each group. Fossil taxa are included and it also has sections on
biogeography, global species richness, culturing and rearing and preparing specimens for taxonomic study. The book highlights areas where research might be particularly rewarding and suggests systems/groups that need investigation. The author provides a large compendium of references to original research on each group. This book is an essential workmate for all postgraduates and researchers working on ichneumonoid or other parasitic wasps worldwide. It will stand as a reference book for a good number of years, and while rapid advances in various fields such as genomics and host physiological interactions will lead to new information, as an overall synthesis of the current state it will stay relevant for a long time.

List of contents

Preface xiii
 
Acknowledgements xv
 
1 INTRODUCTION 1
 
Life history 5
 
Systematics 6
 
PART 1 MORPHOLOGY AND BIOLOGY 7
 
2 ADULT EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY 9
 
Head 10
 
Antennal sensilla 12
 
Antennal glands and tyloids 14
 
Palps 15
 
Mesosoma 15
 
Legs 17
 
Wings wing venation and wing cells 18
 
Confusing and sometimes erroneously applied vein names 26
 
Wing flexion lines 27
 
Metasoma 29
 
Sexual dimorphism 30
 
Male external genitalia 32
 
3 THE OVIPOSITOR AND OVIPOSITOR SHEATHS 35
 
The act of oviposition 39
 
Functional morphology of wood-drillers 41
 
Ovipositor stabilisation guides and buckling force 43
 
Ovipositor notches and endoparasitism 44
 
Ovipositor steering mechanisms 44
 
Proposed evolutionary and related ovipositor transitions 48
 
Number position and possible functions of ovipositor valvilli 50
 
Venom retention and delivery 52
 
Ovipositor secretory pores 53
 
Ovipositor sensilla 54
 
Ovipositor sheaths 55
 
4 INTERNAL AND REPRODUCTIVE ANATOMY 57
 
Nervous system 58
 
Digestive tract 58
 
Female internal reproductive system 59
 
Ovaries 59
 
Time scale of egg maturation 60
 
Spermatheca 61
 
Common oviduct and vaginal gland 62
 
Venom gland and reservoir 63
 
Dufour's gland 64
 
Cuticular hydrocarbons 66
 
Sex pheromones 67
 
Male internal reproductive system 68
 
Sperm ultrastructure 69
 
Spermatogeny index 70
 
5 IMMATURE STAGES 71
 
Eggs and oögenesis 72
 
Hydropic and anhydropic eggs 72
 
Embryogenesis 73
 
Embryonic membranes 75
 
Larva 76
 
Larval feeding and nutrition 81
 
Larval food consumption and dietary efficiency 82
 
Lipid metabolism 82
 
Respiration in endoparasitoids 83
 
Larval secretions 83
 
The pupal stage 84
 
Cocoons 84
 
6 IDIOBIONTS KOINOBIONTS AND OTHER LIFE HISTORY TRAITS 87
 
Parasitoidism 88
 
Idiobiont and koinobiont strategies 88
 
Generalists and specialists 89
 
Ecto- and endoparasitism 90
 
Permanent host paralysis 91
 
Gregarious development 91
 
Superparasitism 92
 
Larval combat and physiological suppression 93
 
Adaptive superparasitism 95
 
Multiparasitism 96
 
Obligate and preferential multiparasitism 99
 
Hyperparasitism and pseudohyperparasitism 99
 
Kleptoparasitism 100
 
Evolution of life history strategies 100
 
7 SEX COURTSHIP AND MATING 107
 
Sex determination 108
 
Local mate competition and avoidance of inbreeding 110
 
Sex allocation 110
 
Protandry and virginity 112
 
Thelytoky and cytoplasmic incompatibility 113
 
Mate location 117
 
Courtship 119
 
Swarming and lekking 120
 
Mating position 121
 
Multiple mating and sperm competition 121
 
Sex-related scent glands 123
 
Genome size and recombination 125
 
Cytogenetics 125
 
8 HOST LOCATION ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING AND HOST ASSESSMENT 127
 
Tritrophic interactions 129
 
Host acceptance 130
 
Associative learning 130
 
Biosensors 134
 
Patch use 134
 
9 OVERCOMING HOST IMMUNE REACTION AND PHYSIOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS WITH HOST 137
 
Overcoming host immunity in endoparasitoids 138
 

About the author

Donald L. J. Quicke is currently Visiting Professor at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in zoology and after doctoral and postdoctoral work on snail neurophysiology, sea anemone ecology and spider venoms, made parasitic wasps, and especially the ichneumonoid wasp family Braconidae, his main love and research interest. He held a lectureship at Sheffield University, moved to Imperial College London in 1993 and held a joint post between them and the Natural History Museum, London, until retiring in 2013 to live in Thailand. He was made Professor of Systematics in 2008. He has travelled widely collecting and studying parasitic wasps, especially in Africa. Over the past years he has described more than 560 new species and 76 new genera, including a number of fossil taxa, as well as making extensive studies of functional anatomy parasitic wasp ovipositors which are of enormous biological importance. A lot of his recent work has concerned global diversity estimation and patterns.

Summary

The Ichneumonoidea is a vast and important superfamily of parasitic wasps, with some 60,000 described species and estimated numbers far higher, especially for small-bodied tropical taxa.

Report

"This is certainly a field with many pitfalls, but there is hardly a better guide through it than Professor Quicke." ( International Journal of Environmental Studies ,9 March December 2015)

Product details

• Authors: D Quicke, Donald Quicke, Donald L J Quicke, Donald L. J. Quicke, Quicke Donald L. J.
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 23.01.2015
• EAN: 9781118907054
• ISBN: 978-1-118-90705-4
• No. of pages: 704
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Veterinary medicine; Zoologie, Entomologie, Life Sciences, Biowissenschaften, Animal Ecology, Entomology, Animal Science & Zoology, Ökologie / Tiere