SPECIALIZED PARASITOID ATTRACTED TO A PHEROMONE OF ANTS

Apocephalus paraponerae (Diptera: Phoridae) parasitizes workers of the giant tropical ant, Paraponera clavata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Central America. When female parasitoids locate fighting or injured wo rkers of this species, they deposit one or more eggs in them and feed from wounds. Male parasitoids are also attracted to hosts for feeding and to locate females for mating. In a series of experiments it was de monstrated that males and females of this parasitoid were attracted to two products of the mandibular glands of P. clavata, 4-methyl-3-hepta none and 4-methyl-3-heptanol. These compounds are produced in the mand ibular glands of numerous ant species and serve as alarm pheromones in some species. Phorid parasitoids of ants may routinely use host-produ ced pheromones to locate hosts, and behavioural interactions between a nts and their parasitoids may have shaped the use of these pheromone s ystems by both interactants. (C) 1996 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour