Host specificity of parasitoids (Encyrtidae) toward armored scale insects (Diaspididae): Untangling the effect of cryptic species on quantitative food webs.

ABSTRACT: Host specificity of parasitoids may be measured by various specialization indices to assess the variation of interaction strength among species and the structure of the wider interaction network. However, the conclusions from analyses at the species and network levels may differ, which remains poorly explored. In addition, the recovery of cryptic species of hosts and parasitoids with molecular data may affect the structure of inferred interaction links. We quantified host specificity of hymenopteran parasitoids (family Encyrtidae) on armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) from a wide geographic sampling range across the Chinese Mainland based on both morphological and molecular species delimitation. Mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S markers detected high cryptic species diversity i

SUBMITTER: Qin YG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6144978 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature