Study
Parasitoids: Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology
Godfray, H. Charles J.
Princeton University Press, 1994
Synthesises the biology of parasitoids — insects whose larvae develop on or in a single host, killing it — covering host location, host choice, clutch size, development and the population consequences.
- Studied in
- Hymenoptera, Diptera
- Sample size
- synthesis across parasitoid insects
Parasitoids occupy a distinct category between predators and parasites: a single host is consumed, as in predation, but slowly and from within, as in parasitism. Host location and host quality assessment are the central behavioural problems, and parasitoids are among the most species-rich groups of animals.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Parasitoidism is a coherent life-history strategy requiring its own theory, distinct from both predation and parasitism.
How NatureHQ reads it
The reference behind the distinction NatureHQ needs. Predator, parasite and parasitoid are usually treated as a spectrum with fuzzy edges; the parasitoid is the case that makes the edges legible, because it does exactly one of the defining things from each category.
- A 1994 synthesis; the molecular work on host manipulation and immune suppression came later.
- Concentrated on the insect groups where the biology is best documented.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
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Published by: Academic book publishersPublished as an academic monograph.
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