{rfName}
La

Indexed in

Citations

36

Altmetrics

Analysis of institutional authors

Tena, AlejandroAuthor

Share

October 12, 2024
Publications
>
Article
No

Larval cannibalism during the late developmental stages of a facultatively gregarious encyrtid endoparasitoid

Publicated to: ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY. 34 (6): 669-676 - 2009-12-01 34(6), DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2311.2009.01116.x

Authors:

Tena, Alejandro; Kapranas, Apostolos; Garcia-Mari, Ferran; Luck, Robert F
[+]

Affiliations

Univ Calif Riverside, Dept Entomol, Riverside, CA 92521 USA - Author
Univ Politecn Valencia, Inst Agroforestal Mediterraneo, Valencia, Spain - Author

Abstract

The larvae of many gregarious parasitoid species are usually non-aggressive when they develop in or on a host, but those of Metaphycus flavus are one of the few exceptions known. Herein we describe their aggressive behaviour and the conditions under which it occurs, using observations in which larval development and physical conflict within parasitised and superparasitised hosts were mapped daily. Metaphycus flavus larvae often engaged in physical conflict that resulted in consumption of the losing larvae (= cannibalism ) in superparasitised hosts, whereas such conflict and consumption occurred rarely when a single brood developed in a host. Cannibalism among M. flavus larvae only occurred after the host resources had become scarce. Typically it occurred after the sixth day of development (fourth-instar larvae) when the larvae in a clutch had separated from their aeroscopic plate and were freed of their attachment to the host's cuticle. Female larvae in the initial clutch appeared more aggressive than male larvae when a second clutch was allocated 4 h after the first clutch. The probability of a larva being attacked and consumed by a brood mate increased as the number of larvae increased in the host. This partial tolerance might allow the members of the initial brood to defend themselves from offspring of a superparasitising female (= competitors ). Such post-ovipositional regulation of brood size might be interpreted as high-density intolerance among female offspring.
[+]

Keywords

AggressionBlack scaleBrown soft scaleCannibalismClutch sizeEncyrtidaeEndoparasiteEvolutionary transitionGregariousnessHesperidum l. hemipteraLarval competitionLarval developmentMetaphycusMetaphycus flavusMetaphycus-helvoluNonsiblicidal behaviorParasitoidParasitoid waspsResource scarcitySaissetia-oleaeSouthern californiaSuperparasitisSuperparasitismWasp

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2009, it was in position 13/74, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Entomology.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-02:

  • WoS: 18
  • Scopus: 18
[+]

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-02:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 24 (PlumX).
[+]

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Tena Barreda, Alejandro) .

[+]

Awards linked to the item

We thank Lisa D. Foster, Porfirio Pacheco, and Robert Trautman for providing the scales, host plants, and parasitoids to conduct these experiments. We also thank Dr Ian Hardy for his help with logistic regression analysis and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was supported in part by an Instituto Agroforestal Mediterraneo (Universidad Politecnica de Valencia) fellowship to A.T., and by an USDA National Research Initiative grant (USDA-NRI 2005-01006) awarded to R.F.L. and Jocelyn Millar and by a California Citrus Research Board grant (CRB 5500-159) awarded to Joseph Morse and R.F.L.
[+]