Parasitoids are insects whose larvae develop by feeding on the bodies of other arthropods, usually insects, but also spiders and centipedes.
Keywords: coevolution; specialization; Hymenoptera
Parasitoids
Stuart A West, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK
Published online: April 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003157
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Figure 1. The hymenopteran parasitoid Megastigmus stigmatizans (Torymidae). Note the long ovipositor. Reproduced with permission from Stone G and Csóka G (eds) Oak Gallwasps of the Western Palearctic. London: Ray Society, Natural History Museum (in preparation).
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| References | |
| Beckage NE (1998) Modulation of immune responses to parasitoids by polydnaviruses. Parasitology 116: S57–S64. | |
| Bonsall MB and Hassell MP (1997) Apparent competition structures ecological assemblages. Nature 388: 371–373. | |
| book Gauld ID and Gaston KJ (1994) "The taste of enemy free space: parasitoids and nasty hosts". In: Hawkins BA and Sheehan W (eds) Parasitoid Community Ecology, pp. 279–299. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| book Godfray HCJ (1994) Parasitoids: Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology. Princeton: Princeton University Press. | |
| Hassell MP, Comins HN and May RM (1991) Spatial structure and chaos in insect population dynamics. Nature 353: 255–258. | |
| book Hawkins BA (1994) Pattern and Process in Host–Parasitoid Interactions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | |
| book Jones TH, Hassell MP and May RM (1994) "Population dynamics of host–parasitoid interactions". In: Hawkins BA and Sheehan W (eds) Parasitoid Community Ecology, pp. 371–396. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| Kraaijeveld AR, VanAlphen JJM and Godfray HCJ (1998) The coevolution of host resistance and parasitoid virulence. Parasitology 116: S29–S45. | |
| book Memmott J and Godfray HCJ (1994) "The use and construction of parasitoid webs". In: Hawkins BA and Sheehan W (eds) Parasitoid Community Ecology, pp. 300–318. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| West SA, Cook JM, Werren JH and Godfray HCJ (1998) Wolbachia in two insect host–parasitoid communities. Molecular Ecology 7: 1457–1465. | |
| Further Reading | |
| book Godfray HCJ and Shimada M (eds) (1999) Parasitoids: a model system to answer questions in behavioral, evolutionary and population ecology. Researches on Population Ecology 41: 1–126. | |
| book Hassell MP and Godfray HCJ (1992) "The population biology of insect parasitoids". In: Crawley MJ (ed.) Natural Enemies, pp. 265–292. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific. | |
| book Hawkins BA and Sheehan W (eds) (1994) Parasitoid Community Ecology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. | |
| book Waage JK and Greathead D (eds) (1986) Insect Parasitoids. London: Academic Press. | |
| Werren JH (1997) Biology of Wolbachia. Annual Review of Entomology 42: 587–609. | |
