OVIPOSITION BEHAVIOR OF MONOCTONUS-PAULENSIS (HYMENOPTERA, APHIDIIDAE) - FACTORS INFLUENCING REPRODUCTIVE ALLOCATION TO HOSTS AND HOST PATCHES

Mated females of the solitary parasitoid Monoctonus paulensis (Ashmead) frequently self-superparasitize pea aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), during single encounters. Superparasitism varied with egg load but was independent of host density. Two-day-old virgin females abandoned host patches earlier, and superparasitized fewer pea aphids, than did 2-d-old mated females. Six-day-old virgins did not superparasitize more pea aphids than did 2-d-old virgins. However, 6-d-old virgins remained in host patches as long as mated females of the same age, and attacked similar numbers of aphids. Prepatch encounters with conspecific females caused virgins to superparasitize a larger proportion of aphids. Virgin females that had encountered conspecifically parasitized aphids shortly after emergence remained longer in patches of unparasitized aphids, and parasitized a larger proportion of them, than did virgins that had encountered only unparasitized aphids.