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 64 shared parasitoids DHJanzen100657.jpg high resolution
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| Rothschildia erycina and Rothschildia lebeau live in the same forest, side by side, sometimes feeding on the same food plants. They would appear to be good candidates for shared parasitoids. To examine this question, a large number of R. erycina and R. lebeau caterpillars were seeded into the top of this Exostemma tree as first instar larvae. Three weeks later the 5th instar caterpillars were collected and reared on through to cocoons to see what parasites they had. The Rothschildia lebeau caterpillars produced numerous Enicospilus lebophagus wasps, and nothing else. The Rothschildia erycina caterpillars produced many cases of caterpillars attacked by a tachinid fly (a fly in the family Tachinidae), an undescribed species of Lespesia (see image DHJanzen100658.jpg below). Since this time, rearings of hundreds free-ranging (either from imatures put out, or totally wild-caught) caterpillars have confirmed this result. The fly attacks R. erycina and the wasp attacks R. lebophagous. It is always conceivable that both parasitoids attack both caterpillars, but survive only in their respective hosts, but I doubt it. | ||
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