Host-parasite interactions between whiteflies and their parasitoids

Abstract

There is relatively little information available concerning the physiological and biochemical interactions between whiteflies and their parasitoids. In this report, we describe interactions between aphelinid parasitoids and their aleyrodid hosts that we have observed in four host-parasite systems: Bemisia tabaci/Encarsia formosa, Trialeurodes vaporariorum/E. formosa, B. tabaci/Eretmocerus mundus, and T. lauri/Encarsia scapeata. In the absence of reported polydnavirus and teratocytes, these parasitoids probably inject and/or produce compounds that interfere with the host immune response and also manipulate host development to suit their own needs. In addition, parasitoids must coordinate their own development with that of their host. Although eggs are deposited under all four instars of B. tabaci, Eretmocerus larvae only penetrate 4th instar B. tabaci nymphs. A pre-penetrating E. mundus first instar was capable of inducing permanent developmental arrest in its host, and upon penetration stimulated its host to produce a capsule (epidermal in origin) in which the parasitoid larva developed. T. vaporariorum and B. tabaci parasitized by E. formosa initiated adult development, and, on occasion, produced abnormal adult wings and eyes. In these systems, the site of parasitoid oviposition depended on the host species, occurring within or pressing into the ventral ganglion in T. vaporariorum and at various locations in B. tabaci. E. formosa's final larval molt is cued by the initiation of adult development in its host. In the T. lauri-E. scapeata system, both the host whitefly and the female parasitoid diapause during most of the year, i.e., from June until the middle of February (T. lauri) or from May until the end of December (E. scapeata). It appears that the growth and development of the insects are directed by the appearance of new, young foliage on Arbutus andrachne, the host tree. When adult female parasitoids emerged in the spring, they laid unfertilized male-producing eggs in whiteflies containing a female parasitoid [autoparasitism (development of male larvae utilizing female parasitoid immatures for nutrition)]. Upon hatching, these male larvae did not diapause, but initiated development, and the adult males that emerged several weeks later mated with available females to produce the next generation of parasitoid females. Thus, the interactions that exist between whiteflies and their parasitoids are complex and can be quite diverse in the various host-parasitoid systems.