Responses of a generalist and a specialist parasitoid (Hymenoptera: Eucoilidae) to drosophilid larval kairomones

Foraging parasitoids are thought to need more specific information than generalists on the presence, identity, availability, and suitability of their insect host species. In the present paper, we compare responses to host kairomones by two phylogenetically related parasitoid species that attack Drosophilidae and that differ in the width of their host range. As predicted, the behavioral response of the parasitoids to host kairomones reflected their difference in host range. The response of the specialist parasitoid Leptopilina boulardi was restricted to contact kairomones from its natural hosts and one closely related species. In contrast, the generalist parasitoid Leptopilina heterotoma responded to contact kairomones of a variety of Drosophilidae species.