| Affiliation: | (1) Biologie des Communautés animales CP 160/12, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Brussels, Belgium;(2) Present address: ESPM—Insect Biology, University of California, Wellman Hall 201, Berkeley, CA 94720–3112, USA |
| Abstract: | Host finding abilities were investigated in the braconid Coeloides bostrichorum and the pteromalid Rhopalicus tutela, two ectoparasitoid wasps attacking the late instar of the bark beetle Ips typographus. Under laboratory conditions, important differences in the host-searching behaviour of these species were found, R. tutela being highly mobile as compared to C. bostrichorum. In the presence of C. bostrichorum, R. tutela behaved as a cleptoparasitoid, displacing the females from their oviposition sites and stealing the hosts previously located by the braconid. This behaviour facilitated host finding in R. tutela and could partly explain the relative success of the polyphagous R. tutela when occurring with the more specialised C. bostrichorum.Communicated by R.F.A. Moritz |
