Meeting Abstract

P2.28  Friday, Jan. 4  The effects of the life history of Polistes metricus on the nutritional ecology of the parasitiod wasp Pachysomoides fulvus. JUDD, TM; Southeast Missouri State University tjudd@semo.edu

Polistes wasps have an annual colony cycle that goes through the following phases: 1) colony initiation by a single or a few foundresses, 2) worker production, and 3) reproductive production. At the end of the season, reproductive females enter diapause for the winter and initiate new colonies during the following spring. Thus, the nutritional investment of a colony reproductive brood should be greater than the investment in worker brood. Pachysomoides fulvus is a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs in cells containing larvae and pupae of the wasp in the genus Polistes. As a parasite of Polistes, this wasp has adapted to the Polistes lifecycle with two reproductive phases. The first reproductive phase happens when Polistes metricus produces workers and the second when the colony produces reproductives. In this study, larvae, pupae and adult P. fulvus were collected from Polistes metricus colonies in the worker phase and later from P. metricus colonies in the reproductive phase. The metamorphosis of P. fulvus was documented and all individuals were analyzed for their carbohydrate, lipid and protein levels. These levels were compared with the levels of P. metricus pupae from both worker and reproductives to see if nutritional differences in the pupae of P. metricus influence the nutritional levels of the two generations of P. fulvus.