DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN SELF-CONSPECIFIC AND CONSPECIFIC-PARASITIZED HOSTS IN THE APHID PARASITOID PRAON-PEQUODORUM VIERECK (HYMENOPTERA, APHIDIIDAE)

We evaluated host discrimination and oviposition restraint in the wasp Praon pequodorum Viereck, a solitary parasitoid of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris). In dichotomous preference tests, wasps attacked more unparasitized than equally available parasitized aphids, and more self-parasitized aphids than aphids parasitized by conspecific females. The conditional probability of a female laying an egg into an attacked aphid was independent of the host type. Host discrimination apparently involves a volatile and individual-specific pheromone marker. Females expecting to compete with other (conspecific) wasps for a limited host supply may ensure possession of the host by self superparasitism. Because host examination requires considerably more time than oviposition in P. pequodorum (and eggs contain few resources), it may be adaptive for a female to lay an egg in an examined host regardless of variations in host quality.