Male condition and seminal fluid affect female host-marking behavior in the Mexican fruit fly.

Mating and the transfer of seminal fluid components including male accessory glands (MAGs) proteins can affect oviposition behavior in insects. After oviposition, some species of fruit flies deposit a host-marking pheromone (HMP) on the fruit that discourages oviposition by other females of the same or different species or genus and reduces competition between larvae. However, we know very little about how mating, receiving seminal fluid, or male condition can affect female host marking behavior. Here, we tested how the physiological state of females (mated or unmated), the receipt of seminal fluid, and the condition of the male (wild or sterile) affect oviposition and host-marking behavior (HMB) in Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae). We also determined the efficiency of the host-marking pheromone from mated or unmated females in deterring oviposition. In a further examination of how seminal fluid may be affecting HMB we assessed if there were differences in the size of wild or sterile MAGs and the protein quantity transferred during mating. Our results indicate that receiving seminal fluid increased egg laying and increased time invested in host-marking (HM). Unmated females laid fewer eggs than mated females but invested the same amount of time in depositing host-marking pheromone, which had similar effectiveness in deterring oviposition as that of mated females. Females that mated with sterile males laid the same number of eggs as females that mated with wild males but spent less time depositing host-marking pheromone, which suggests that females detect the condition of the male and invest less in marking hosts. Finally, sterile males had larger accessory glands and transferred more MAGs proteins during mating compared to wild males. Seminal proteins could be manipulating HM behavior and female investment into their current reproductive effort. We are only beginning to understand how male condition and seminal fluid can affect female physiology and maternal investment in HMP.

Mating, but Not Male Accessory Gland Products, Changes Female Response to Olfactory Cues in Anastrepha Fruit Flies.

Copulation and/or ejaculate components can alter female physiological state and female post-mating behavior. The objective of the present study was to determine if copulation and male reproductive accessory gland products (MAGs) modify the behavior of female Anastrepha ludens (Loew) and Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart; Diptera: Tephritidae) in response to two stimuli: male-emitted pheromone and oviposition host volatiles. Olfactometry studies revealed that mated females of both A. ludens and A. obliqua have a stronger response for host volatiles compared to unmated females, which have a stronger response for male pheromone. We also examined olfactory responses of females mated to testectomized males who could transfer MAGs but not sperm. In both species, MAGs alone did not cause the change in the olfactory response observed after copulation, unlike what has been found in Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Females mated to testectomized males responded equally to the male sex pheromone or to host volatiles, thus suggesting that the whole ejaculate is needed to elicit the complete behavioral switch in olfactory response. The function of MAGs is still unknown in these two pests of economic importance. The response for host volatiles by mated females has implications for the development of baits and traps that should preferably attract and target this population.

The Mayan Tropical Rainforest: An Uncharted Reservoir of Tritrophic Host-Fruit Fly-Parasitoid Interactions.

Over a two-year period, we surveyed natural areas of the Mayan rainforest in Quintana Roo, Mexico. We found 11 species of Anastrepha Schiner (Diptera: Tephritidae) infesting 25 species of fruits belonging to ten plant families. We report the first records of 10 host plant species of the genus Anastrepha, which include the first report of a plant family (Putranjivaceae) serving as host of Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) infesting Drypetes lateriflora (Sw.) Krug and Urb. (Putranjivaceae). Pouteria reticulata (Engl.) Eyma (Sapotaceae) was found, for the first time, to be infested by Anastrepha serpentina (Wiedemann) and by a new undescribed species of Anastrepha. We also report Casimiroa microcarpa Lundell (Rutaceae) as a possible ancestral host for the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), in Central America. The family Sapotaceae was the best-represented host group with three fruit fly species recovered: A. serpentina, an economically-important species, found in eight host plants, and A. hamata and A. sp. (new species). We recorded six species of koinobiont parasitoids: Doryctobracon areolatus Szepligeti, Utetes (Bracanastrepha) anastrephae Viereck, Opius hirtus Fisher, and Doryctobracon zeteki Musebeck, (all Braconidae), and Aganaspis pelleranoi (Brethés) and Odontosema anastrephae Borgmeier, (both Figitidae). All these parasitoid species represent at least a new report for their host plants. Of the whole parasitoid community, D. areolatus was the most important parasitoid species with 52.7% of presence in 12 host plant species, parasitizing six fruit fly species. The interaction between fruit flies and their parasitoids with host plants depends on fruit availability, which is crucial for the survival of each of these species. Conserving the landscape of the Mayan rainforest is important not only for species conservation, but also for the maintenance of fruit fly host plants in orchard agroecosystems in southeastern Mexico.

Pontoscolex corethrurus: A homeless invasive tropical earthworm?

The presence of earthworm species in crop fields is as old as agriculture itself. The earthworms Pontoscolex corethrurus (invasive) and Balanteodrilus pearsei (native) are associated with the emergence of agriculture and sedentism in the region Amazon and Maya, respectively. Both species have shifted their preference from their natural habitat to the cropland niche. They contrast in terms of intensification of agricultural land use (anthropic impact to the symbiotic soil microbiome). P. corethrurus inhabits conventional agroecosystems, while B. pearsei thrives in traditional agroecosystems, i.e., P. corethrurus has not yet been recorded in soils where B. pearsei dwells. The demographic behavior of these two earthworm species was assessed in the laboratory over 100 days, according to their origin (OE; P. corethrurus and B. pearsei) food quality (FQ; soil only, maize stubble, Mucuna pruriens), and soil moisture (SM; 25, 33, 42%). The results showed that OE, FQ, SM, and the OE x FQ interaction were highly significant for the survival, growth, and reproduction of earthworms. P. corethrurus showed a lower survival rate (> mortality). P. corethrurus survivors fed a diet of low-to-intermediate nutritional quality (soil and stubble maize, respectively) showed a greater capacity to grow and reproduce; however, it was surpassed by the native earthworm when fed a high-quality diet (M. pruriens). Besides, P. corethrurus displayed a low cocoon hatching (emergence of juveniles). These results suggest that the presence of the invasive species was associated with a negative interaction with the soil microbiota where the native species dwells, and with the absence of natural mutualistic bacteria (gut, nephridia, and cocoons). These results are consistent with the absence of P. corethrurus in milpa and pasture-type agricultural niches managed by peasants (agroecologists) to grow food regularly through biological soil management. Results reported here suggest that P. corethrurus is an invasive species that is neither wild nor domesticated, that is, its eco-evolutionary phylogeny needs to be derived based on its symbionts.

Patterns of Oviposition and Feeding in the Monophagous Fly Anastrepha spatulata (Diptera: Tephritidae) on its Larval Host Plant Schoepfia schreberi.

Monophagous insects that use discrete resources for oviposition and feeding are especially sensitive to variations in host quality and availability because their opportunities to find these resources are scarce. The monophagous tephritid fly Anastrepha spatulata Stone is a tephritid fly that uses as hosts the fruits of the non-economically important Schoepfia schreberi J. F. Gmel. Scant information of host utilization behavior in the field is available for this species. Wild individually marked flies were observed during the fruiting season. Observations of oviposition, feeding and resting on three trees were taken hourly from 0900 to 1800 hours on days with benign weather. Our results suggest that females can use fruits for oviposition or for feeding according to a temporal scale. Females were significantly more likely to feed on smaller hosts and oviposit in larger ones. Additionally, individual variation in host patch exploitation was detected. However, females that fed on a natural food source such as host fruit juice oviposited fewer eggs than females provided an artificial diet of sucrose and hydrolyzed yeast. Results indicate that females use different foraging tactics during the fruiting season and confirm that, in this case, the host plant is not the center of activity.

New records and descriptions of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) from Mexico.

Based on a large quantity ichneumonid material collected mainly from the Mexican states of Veracruz and Quintana Roo, faunistic records of 79 species belonging to subfamilies Acaenitinae, Banchinae, Cryptinae, Cylloceriinae, Labeninae, Lycorininae, Microleptinae, Pimplinae, Tersilochinae, and Tryphoninae are provided. Three species are described as new to science: Latosculum ortegai Kasparyan Khalaim, sp. nov. (Cryptinae), Eusterinx madorae Khalaim Kasparyan, sp. nov. (Microleptinae) and Neotheronia veracruzana Khalaim, sp. nov. (Pimplinae). Two genera, Nipponaetes Uchida (Cryptinae) and Meggoleus Townes (Tersilochinae), and six species, Nipponaetes hansoni (Gauld) (Cryptinae), Lycorina moralesi Gauld (Lycorininae), Neotheronia murilloi Gauld (Pimplinae), Meggoleus pampahermosensis Alvarado (Tersilochinae), Phytodietus moragai Gauld, and Zagryphys zulaya Gauld (Tryphoninae), are first records from Mexico. Females of three species, Cestrus tenuiventris (Cresson), Mallochia macula Kasparyan Ruíz-Cancino (Cryptinae), and Phytodietus moragai Gauld (Tryphoninae), are recorded and described for the first time.

Natural enemy defense, provisioning and oviposition site selection as maternal strategies to enhance offspring survival in a sub-social bug.

The influence of maternal defense against natural enemies, maternal provisioning and oviposition site selection on offspring survival before and after hatching were examined in a semelparous pentatomid bug, Ramosiana insignis. Oviposition occurs on leaves of Schoepfia schreberi, or surrounding vegetation from which nymphs migrate to feed exclusively on S. schreberi flower buds. Oviposition is asynchronous; the mother lays additional eggs immediately prior to hatching of the core brood that rapidly consume the additional eggs. In the absence of maternal defense egg masses were more heavily parasitized, suffered ant predation and an increased prevalence of sibling cannibalism. Maternal provisioning in the form of addition eggs significantly reduced the prevalence of sibling cannibalism of core brood eggs. Migration of the core brood away from the oviposition site was also significantly higher in the absence of maternal provisioning. If not consumed, additional eggs were capable of producing viable progeny of both sexes, indicating that they were in fact marginal progeny. The average clutch size on non-host vegetation was numerically greater than clutches laid on host trees (borderline significant P = 0.058). A greater number of additional eggs were deposited with clutches laid on non-host vegetation compared to those on the host plant. Egg masses on non-host vegetation were less likely to be discovered by parasitoids, compared to those on the host tree. Overall, clutches on non-host vegetation produced one third more offspring than clutches on the host tree. We conclude that R. insignis females present a remarkable combination of maternal defense, provisioning of additional eggs and oviposition site selection as strategies to enhance offspring survival in both the egg and nymph stages.

Host use and resource sharing by fruit/seed-infesting insects on Schoepfia schreberi (Olacaceae).

The interactions between the fruit fly Anastrepha spatulata Stone (Diptera: Tephritidae) and two species of moths, the gelechiid Coleotechnites sp. and an unidentified tortricid species, were examined on their effects on seed production in terms of their exploitation within fruits of Schoepfia schreberi J.F. Gmel (Santalales: Olacaceae). The study was carried out in three experimental sites during 3 yr. Under conditions of abundant fruit, A. spatulata was the dominant exploiter at the population level, as shown by its ability to infest the largest number of fruits of the three herbivores and substantially displace its moth competitors. In a separate experiment, when resource-partitioning species were excluded, A. spatulata infested twice as many fruits as the two moth species (44.3%). Field observations examined the ability of A. spatulata to locate suitable fruits. We found that, the variation in fruit characters influenced fruit suitability in relation to its size (4.1261 ± 0.0272 mm [mean ± SE]) and weight (0.0618 ± 0.0005 mg [mean ± SE]). Uninfested fruits produce viable seed but the interaction of all species (exploiting for the fruits) led to limited seed formation.

First record of Calliephialtes sittenfeldae associated with the tephritid fruit fly Anastrepha spatulata in Mexico.

This paper reports for the first time an ichneumonid parasitoid Calliephialtes sittenfeldae Gauld Ugalde-Gómez et Hanson (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) associated with a dipteran host Anastrepha spatulata Stone (Diptera: Tephritidae), recovered from fruit of Schoepfia schreberi (Santalales: Olacaceae) in central Veracruz, Mexico. Large numbers of this parasitoid were collected and reared from its fruit fly host in three localities of Veracruz, Mexico. Some observations of its biology are also reported. This is a first record of C. sittenfeldae from Mexico, and the first record of this parasitoid species, its insect host, and the host plant. The male of this species is described and illustrated for the first time.