Bee-Parasitic Strepsipterans (Strepsiptera: Stylopidae) Induce Their Hosts' Flower-Visiting Behavior Change.

ABSTRACT: Parasites sometimes manipulate their host's behavior to increase their own fitness by enhancing the likelihood that their offspring will reach their hosts. Bees are often parasitized by immobile adult female strepsipterans which seem to modify bees' behavior to facilitate the release of mobile first-instar larvae onto flowers. To better understand how the parasite may modify the host's behavior, we compared the foraging behavior of the sweat bee Lasioglossum apristum (Vachal, 1903) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) between bees parasitized and unparasitized by the strepsipteran Halictoxenos borealis Kifune, 1982 (Strepsiptera: Stylopidae). Both parasitized and unparasitized bees frequently visited Hydrangea serrata (Thunb.) (Cornales: Hydrangeaceae) inflorescences, which are polleniferous but nect

SUBMITTER: Nakase Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8415181 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature