Host‐feeding and oviposition strategies of parasitoids in relation to host stage

Summary Until now, mathematical models of parasitoid‐host interactions have not incorporated the tendency for destructively host‐feeding parasitoids to partition their feeding and oviposition behaviour in relation to different host stages. A literature survey reveals a trend for female parasitoids to feed preferentially or exclusively on earlier host stages and to oviposit preferentially or exclusively in/or later ones. We explore the relative advantages to host‐feeding parasitoids of a number of possible host stage selection strategies. We develop hypotheses, formalizing and testing them using modifications to our earlier simulation model of host‐feeding strategies (Jervis and Kidd, 1986). We conclude from our modelling that the advantage to be gained from feeding on early host stages and ovipositing in late ones is likely to be associated with: 1) reduced handling times when feeding on early stage hosts; 2) reduced wastage of progeny from mortality factors other than host‐feeding by the parent parasitoid, achieved by confining oviposition to late host stages; and 3) reduced probability of progeny mortality resulting from the parent's host‐feeding activities.