COMPARISON OF OVIPOSITION BEHAVIOR OF A SOLITARY AND A GREGARIOUS PARASITOID (HYMENOPTERA, MYMARIDAE)

Anaphes victus Huber and Anaphes listronoti Huber (Hymenoptera: Mymari dae) are respectively solitary and gregarious egg parasitoids of the c arrot weevil, Listronotus oregonensis (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Curculion idae). We made detailed ethograms of the oviposition behavior on unpar asitized and parasitized hosts for the two species. We then compared t he behavior of virgin and mated females for the oviposition of male an d female progenies. The two species did not always oviposit after inse rtion of the ovipositor, bur these punctures without oviposition could be readily differentiated from oviposition. A, victus oviposited only once by puncture, while A. listronoti deposited one to three eggs dur ing the same sequence. The variability of the duration of the various components was generally lower for a given female than between females . Two components, the abdominal vibrations and the pause, were signifi cantly shorter in ovipositions that resulted in male progeny for the t wo species, However, an important overlap in duration prevents using t hese differences to sex the progeny at oviposition. Virgin females of both species, although capable of producing only males, exhibited both behaviors. Parasitized hosts were recognized through internal and ext ernal markings that were used in host discrimination.