Early nest emergence of females parasitised by Strepsiptera in protandrous bees (Hymenoptera Andrenidae).
2011
Abstract
Stylopised imagoes of Andrena (Hymenoptera Andrenidae) bees are known to exhibit intersexual morphology. Until now, their abnormal morphology has been thought to result from undernourishment of parasitised larvae during development.
We hypothesised that induced changes in the suite of morphological characters might be a consequence of manipulation of sex-specific behavioural traits by a strepsipteran parasite. Thus, the masculinised morphology of stylopised females might be connected with shifts in their sexual behaviour.
Here, we tested the effect of Stylops (Strepsiptera Stylopidae) infection on the timing of spring nest emergence in Andrena bees, where males generally emerged conspicuously earlier than conspecific females.