New findings on life history traits of Xenos peckii(Strepsiptera: Xenidae)
Abstract
We studied life history traits ofXenos peckiiKirby (Strepsiptera: Xenidae), a little-known parasite of the paper waspPolistes fuscatus(Fabricus) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in North America. We field-collected 24 wasp nests in early July 2012, isolated parasitised wasps, tracked life history events ofX. peckii, and recorded such behaviour as emergence of males and mating by normal-speed and high-speed cinematography. To emerge, males first cut the puparium with their mandibles along an ecdysial suture line, and then push aside the pupal cap during emergence. The endoparasitic females engage in active calling (pheromone release) behaviour by slowly inflating their cephalothorax, and then extruding it even farther out of, and tilting it away from, the host wasp abdomen. Seasonal and diel (afternoon) emergence periods of males coincide with seasonal and diel receptivity and calling periods of females. Males approach calling females in a swaying flight with smooth turns. They typically land on the anterior portion of the host wasp's abdomen, and then step backward until they make contact with the cephalothorax of the female. As soon as their mesothoracic legs contact the female's cephalothorax, they curl around it, and the male initiates mating. Thereafter, the female fully retreats and never re-mates.
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Extrusion of the cephalothorax in Strepsiptera is timed to coincide with eclosion of winged adult males.
“Extrusion of the cephalothorax is timed to coincide with eclosion of winged adult males (Hrabar et al. , 2014).”
From Why grow up? <scp>A</scp> perspective on insect strategies to avoid metamorphosis (2016) · cites this paper as Hrabar et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Hrabar, M., Danci, A., McCann, S., Schaefer, P. W., & Gries, G.
- Affiliations
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Gries, G.
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Canadian Entomologist
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2014-02-13
- Volume
- 146
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 514-527
- ISSN
- 0008-347X (ISSN-L)
- 1918-3240
- OpenAlex
- W2153866661
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 2.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Canadian Entomologist (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Simon Fraser University
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Hymenoptera taxonomy and phylogeny
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- Xenidae, Strepsiptera, life history, Polistes fuscatus, Polistinae, endoparasitic wasps, male emergence, female calling behavior, pheromone release, mating behavior, seasonal emergence, diel activity patterns, host-parasite interactions
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