Effect of Experience on the Responses of the Parasitoid Brachymeria intermedia (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) to Its Host, Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), and to Kairomone

Abstract

In a choice olfactometer, female Brachymeria intermedia (Nees) walk upwind to odor from host pupae, Lymantria dispar L., and pupal extracts. However, females with oviposition experience on a host pupa were more likely than naive females to walk upwind in kairomone-laden air and did so more rapidly. After arrival at a kairomone-impregnated patch, experienced females were more likely to probe with their ovipositors than naive females. In female B. intermedia, previous experience with a host appears to be an important feature in orientation to and recognition of its host by kairomone.