Progress 04/01/03 to 03/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: investigator retired 2007 PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
investigator retired 2007
Publications
- investigator retired 2007
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Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06
Outputs
no report given
Impacts
no report given
Publications
- Deyrup, L. D., Matthews, R. W. and Deyrup, M. 2006. Feeding and siblicidal cannibalism in a male parasitic wasp (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Florida Entomologist 89(2): 135-140.
- Deyrup, L. D., Rivers, D. B., and Matthews, R. W. 2006. Venom from the ectoparasitic wasp Melittobia digitata Dahms (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) induces paralysis and developmental delay in natural and factitious hosts. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 99(6): 1199-1205.
- Deyrup, L. D. and R. W. Matthews. 2006. Examining the relatedness of behaviors through experimentation: Switching on and off chewing and feeding behavior in a parasitic wasp. Journal of Ethology (in press).
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
Significant progress has been made on each of the four objectives during the past year. All relate to the overall goal of obtaining a more thorough understanding of life history details essential for underpinning curriculum materials based on this insect being developed in a related project. Toward this goal, we published an annotated bibliography of the literature on Melittobia (Gonzalez and Matthews 2005a.) A graduate student in my laboratory, Leif Deyrup also completed his Ph.D. dissertation on Melittobia in 2005 (Deyrup 2005). Obj. 1. Artificial Diet Development. We continue to test various artificial diet formulations in stretched Parafilm packets. Problems arising from the need to regulate humidity and fungal development in the formulations have slowed progress. Further testing continues. Obj. 2. Dispersal and Host Location. An experimental study of the role of chemical versus mechanical stimuli in eliciting cooperative female chewing behavior for escape to
disperse is published (Deyrup et al. 2005). Females sting spots where chewing subsequently occurs. This observation led to the discovery that Melittobia venom proved to be a significant cue for eliciting chewing by females at a particular spot. A separate study of the role of olfactory cues in host finding has also been completed using an olfactometer(Silva-Torres et al. 2005a) and a related study on host recognition is also recently published (Silva-Torres et al. 2005b). These findings are the first to experimentally attempt to understand these complex behaviors. Obj. 3. Competition. A curriculum activity on interspecific competitive interactions in parasitic wasps (Melittobia and Nasonia compete for a single host fly pupa) for use in introductory college biology and/or ecology laboratories was published (Guinan et al. 2004) Additionally, we have completed a study of sex ratio in the two distinct generations of M. femorata that develop on a single host (Matthews et al. 2005), that
showed that first generation sex ratios were much less female-biased than the second. This was the first paper to specifically focus on first generation sex ratios. Obj. 4. Male aggression. Three questions guide our research: do males have a functional digestive tract? Will they feed on a defeated conspecific male? If so, do they enjoy greater longevity and/or increased future reproductive opportunities? We have confirmed the first two questions and a manuscript has been submitted. Studies on M. digitata courtship showed that males sometimes also kill females when courtship somehow goes awry (Gonzalez and Matthews 2005b). This paper also underpins and quantifies male-female interactions to support a previously published laboratory activity on Melittobia courtship.
Impacts
The impact of this research is to provide solid "paving stones" toward the goal of being able to effectively use this insect as a model organism in pre-college and undergraduate level life science curricula. New curriculum materials using Melittobia digitata, also known as the WOWBug, are concurrently under development in a parallel project. The long-term mpact will be to enhance the quality of life science instruction at all levels.
Publications
- Deyrup, L. D. 2005. Inter- and intraspecific interactions between Melittobia digitata and M. femorata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Georgia, 115 pp.
- Deyrup, L. D., Matthews, R. W. and J. M. Gonzalez. 2005. Cooperative chewing in a gregariously developing parasitoid wasp, Melittobia digitata Dahms, is stimulated by structural cues and a pheromone present in crude venom extract. Journal of Insect Behavior 18:293-304.
- Gonzalez, J. G. and R. W. Matthews. 2005a. An annotated bibliography of Melittobia (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Caribbean Journal of Science Special Publication Number 8, 41 pp.
- Gonzalez, J. M. and R. W. Matthews. 2005b. Courtship of the two female morphs of Melittobia digitata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Florida Entomologist 88 (3): 258 - 267.
- Guinan, J. A., C. S. Beck, L. S. Blumer, and R. W. Matthews. 2004. Competition within and between species of parasitoid wasps. In: Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching, Volume 26 M. A. ODonnell, (ed.). Proceedings of the 26th Workshop/Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE), June 8-12, 2004 pp. 213-232.
- Matthews, R. W. , L. D. Deyrup and J. M. Gonzalez. 2005. Increased male sex ratio among brachypterous progeny in Melittobia femorata, a sib-mating parasitoid wasp (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Insect Science 12: 443 - 448.
- Silva-Torres, C. S. A., R. W. Matthews, J. R. Ruberson, and W. J. Lewis. 2005a. Olfactory cues in host finding by Melittobia digitata Dahms (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98(4): 595-600.
- Silva-Torres, C., R. W. Matthews, J. R. Ruberson and W. J. Lewis. 2005b. Role of chemical cues and natal rearing effect in host recognition by the parasitic wasp, Melittobia digitata. Entomological Science 8: 355-362.
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Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04
Outputs
Significant progress has been made on each of the four objectives during the past year. All relate to the overall goal of obtaining a more thorough understanding of life history details essential for underpinning curriculum materials based on this insect being developed in a related, NSF-funded project. In addition we have expanded our studies to include related species of Melittobia (Gonzalez et al. 2004a, b; Gonzalez and Matthews 2004.) Obj. 1. Development. We continue to test various artificial diet formulations using a device that produces uniform sized diet packets enclosed in stretched Parafilm. Results are very encouraging with wasp development equivalent to that occurring on natural hosts. Current emphasis is on regulating humidity and fungal development in the formulations, and further testing continues. Obj. 2. Dispersal. An experimental study of the role of chemical versus mechanical stimuli in eliciting cooperative female chewing behavior for escape to
disperse is in press (Deyrup, et al. 2005). Females sting spots where chewing subsequently occurs. This observation led to the discovery that Melittobia venom proved to be a significant cue for eliciting chewing by females at a particular spot. A study of the role of olfactory cues in host finding has also been completed and is also in press (Silva-Torres and Matthews 2005). Obj. 3. Competition. A laboratory activity on interspecific competitive interactions in parasitic wasps for introductory college biology and/or ecology completed and field tested overt the past two years was published electronically on the web site of the Ecological Society of America. See url: http://tiee.ecoed.net/vol/v2/experiments/wasps/abstract.html (Beck et al. 2004). Additionally, we have initiated a study of sex ratio in the two distinct generations of M. femorata that develop on a single host. Obj. 4. Male aggression. Our current focus is on the possible adaptive significance of male aggression. Three
questions guide our research: do males have a functional digestive tract? Will they feed on a defeated conspecific male? If so, do they enjoy greater longevity and/or increased future reproductive opportunities?
Impacts
The impact of this research is to provide solid "paving stones" toward the goal of being able to effectively use this insect as a model organism in pre-college and undergraduate level life science curricula. New curriculum materials using Melittobia digitata, also known as the WOWBug, are concurrently under development in a parallel NSF-funded project. The long-term mpact will be to enhance the quality of life science instruction at all levels.
Publications
- Gonzalez, J. M., Teran, J. B. and R. W. Matthews. 2004b. Biology of Melittobia acasta (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Carribean Journal of Science 40:52-61.
- Gonzalez, J. G. and R. W. Matthews. 2004. Species of Melittobia (Hymenoptera:Eulophidae) established in Bahamas, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Trinidad. Florida Entomologist 87(4):619-620.
- Silva-Torres, C. and R. W. Matthews. 2005. Role of olfactory cues in host finding by Melittobia digitata Dahms (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), a parasitoid of solitary wasps and bees. Annals of the Entomological Society of America (in press).
- Beck, C. W., J. A. Guinan, L. S. Blumer, and R. W. Matthews. 2004. Exploring the Lotka-Volterra competition with two species of parasitoid wasps. Teaching issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE). Volume 2, exp. 1 (electronic publication 20 July 2004). http://tiee.ecoed.net/vol/v2/experiments/wasps/abstract.html.
- Deyrup, L. D., Matthews, R. W. and J. M. Gonzalez. 2005. Cooperative chewing behavior in Melittobia digitata is stimulated by structural cues and a pheromone present in venom extracts. Journal of Insect Behavior (in press).
- Gonzalez, J. M., Abe, J. and R. W. Matthews. 2004a. Offspring production and development in the parasitoid wasp Melittobia clavicornis (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from Japan. Entomological Science 7:14-19.
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Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
Progress to 12/31/03: Significant progress has been made in regards to each of the four objectives during the past year. All relate to the overall goal of obtaining a more thorough understanding of life history details essential for underpinning curriculum materials based on this insect being developed in a related, NSF- funded project. Obj. 1. Development. We have designed a device to produce uniform sized artificial diet packets using stretched Parafilm. Testing of various diet formulations using these packets has been initiated with promising results, and further work is planned. As part of this we demonstrated that factitious hosts (mealworm pupae) could be successfully used to rear Melittobia digitata (Deyrup et al. 2003). In another facet of this objective we showed that the mating status of females affected host preference and utilization (Deyrup and Matthews 2003a). Obj. 2. Dispersal. An experimental study of the role of chemical versus mechanical stimuli in
eliciting cooperative female chewing behavior has been completed and submitted to the Journal of Insect Behavior for publication. Melittobia venom proved to be a significant cue for eliciting chewing by females at a particular spot. Preliminary to this study we developed and perfected a technique for "milking" the venom from these tiny wasps in reliable quantities for use in these experiments (Deyrup and Matthews 2003b). This technique may prove to have broad applicability for obtaining pure venom from other parasitoid wasps. Obj. 3. Competition. We completed and published two studies that address aspects of the effects of intraspecific competition in Melittobia (Cooperband et al. 2003; Silva Torres and Matthews 2003). The most striking finding was that, unlike most other highly inbred parasitoids, M. digitata females do not adjust their sex ratio to be more male-biased as the number of competing females increases on a single host. Obj. 4. Male aggression. A series of experiments
pairing males of M. digitata revealed that larger males won a significant proportion of fights (Hartley and Matthews 2003). However, some males never engaged in any fighting. We suggest that a possible behavioral difference exists among males, the two forms being termed fighters and non-fighters, To date we have been unable to correlate this behavioral difference with morphological attributes.
Impacts
The impact of this research is to provide solid "paving stones" toward the goal of being able to effectively use this insect as a model organism in pre-college and undergraduate level life science curricula. New curriculum materials using Melittobia digitata, also known as the WOWBug, are concurrently under development in a parallel NSF-funded project. The long-term mpact will be to enhance the quality of life science instruction at all levels.
Publications
- Cooperband, M. F., Matthews, R. W. and S. B. Vinson. 2003. Factors affecting the reproductive biology of Melittobia digitata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and failure to meet the sex ratio predictions of Hamiltons local mate competition theory. Entomologia experientia et applicata 109:1-12.
- Deyrup, L. D. and R. W. Matthews. 2003a. Host preference and utilization by Melittobia digitata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in relation to mating status. Journal of Entomological Science 38: 512-517.
- Deyrup, L. D. and R. W. Matthews. 2003b. A simple technique for milking the venom of a small parasitic wasp, Melittobia digitata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Toxicon 42:217-218.
- Deyrup, L. D., Deyrup, M. and R. W. Matthews. 2003. Paralyzation and developmental delay of a factitious host by Melittobia digitata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Journal of Entomological Science 38:533-535.
- Hartley, C. S. and R. W. Matthews. 2003. The effect of body size on male-male combat in the parasitoid wasp Melittobia digitata Dahms (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 12:272-277.
- Silva-Torres, C. and R. W. Matthews 2003. Development of Melittobia australica Girault and M. digitata Dahms (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) parasitizing Neobellieria bullata Parker (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) puparia. Neotropical Entomology 32:645-651.
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