IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/beheco/v14y2003i2p182-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Asymmetric larval mobility and the evolutionary transition from siblicide to nonsiblicidal behavior in parasitoid wasps

Author

Listed:
  • John J. Pexton
  • Daniel J. Rankin
  • Calvin Dytham
  • Peter J. Mayhew

Abstract

The widespread evolution of gregarious development in parasitoid wasps presents a theoretical challenge because the conditions under which larval tolerance can spread in an intolerant population are very stringent (the individual fitness of larvae developing together must increase with clutch size). Recent empirical work has suggested that gregarious development can arise through the loss of larval mobility rather than through the gain of tolerant behavior. Using analytical genetic models, we explored whether decreased mobility presents a less stringent route to gregariousness than the gain of tolerance. Reduced mobility can spread under a wide range of conditions. The critical condition for the spread of immobility is much less stringent than that for larval tolerance. In contrast with previous models of tolerance, the criterion for the spread of a rare immobility allele is independent of any bias in the sex ratio and the likelihood of single sex broods. Superparasitism increases the stringency of the criterion for the spread of immobility, whereas double killing relaxes the criterion. Tolerance can subsequently replace immobility if there is any cost to the retention of fighting ability. Our results suggest that asymmetric larval mobility may explain many instances of the evolution of gregarious development. Copyright 2003.

Suggested Citation

  • John J. Pexton & Daniel J. Rankin & Calvin Dytham & Peter J. Mayhew, 2003. "Asymmetric larval mobility and the evolutionary transition from siblicide to nonsiblicidal behavior in parasitoid wasps," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 14(2), pages 182-193, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:14:y:2003:i:2:p:182-193
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:14:y:2003:i:2:p:182-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/beheco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.