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Reduced Reproductive Effort In Male Field Crickets Infested With Parasitoid Fly Larvae, Gita R. Kolluru, Marlene Zuk, Mark A. Chappell
Reduced Reproductive Effort In Male Field Crickets Infested With Parasitoid Fly Larvae, Gita R. Kolluru, Marlene Zuk, Mark A. Chappell
Biological Sciences
Some populations of the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus are parasitized by the phonotactic fly Ormia ochracea. Flies locate crickets by their song and deposit larvae onto them. The larvae develop inside the cricket for 1 week before killing the host upon emergence. The reproductive compensation hypothesis predicts that parasitized crickets should increase their reproductive effort during the initial stages of infestation to offset the loss of fitness resulting from their shortened life span. An alternative hypothesis predicts that parasitized crickets will decrease reproduction, either because they are unable to reproduce or because selection acting on the parasitoid favors decreased …