| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: Host preferences of five strains of parasitic wasps of the Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard, 1881) species complex from Russia (MSU), the UK (ICSP) and the USA (Fresno, Bamberg and Savannah) were studied. Populations with a haploid chromosome number (n) of 5 (MSU and Fresno) preferred to attack Lasioderma serricorne (Fabricius, 1792) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae), whereas those with n=7 (ICSP, Bamberg and Savannah) preferred to parasitize itophilus granarius (Linné, 1758) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). These wasps have life-history strategies, which can be interpreted in terms of the r/K continuum, with those with n=7 r-strategists and those with n=5 K-strategists and associated with Curculionidae and Anobiidae, respectively. Many differences in the life histories of these hosts are also interpretable in similar terms, i. e. Anobiidae can be considered as K strategists compared to the strategic Curculionidae, that is, there is a correlation between the life-history strategies of the parasites and their preferred hosts. Host preferences of the species with n=5 (the MSU strain) were not modified by rearing it on an alternative host, S. granarius, for many generations. On the other hand, there were significant quantitative differences in the host preferences of the MSU and Fresno populations if both were reared on L. serricorne, whereas all strains with n=7 showed the same level of preference. This is attributed to the two species of parasitic wasps having different population structures. |
