Preference of Polistes dominula wasps for trumpet creepers when infected by Xenos vesparum: A novel example of co-evolved traits between host and parasite.

ABSTRACT: The parasitic insect Xenos vesparum induces noticeable behavioral and physiological changes-e.g. castration-in its female host, the paper wasp Polistes dominula: parasitized putative workers avoid any colony task and desert the colony to survive in the nearby vegetation, like future queens and males do. In this long-term observational study, we describe the spectacular attraction of parasitized workers towards trumpet creeper bushes (Campsis radicans) in early-summer. Two thirds of all wasps that we sampled on these bushes were parasitized, whereas the parasite prevalence was much lower in our study area and most wasps sampled on other nearby flowering bushes were non-parasitized. First, we describe the occurrence and consistency of this phenomenon across different sites and years. Second,

SUBMITTER: Beani L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6200222 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature