Automated Author Profile

Nderitu, Peterson W

Current S-Index

1.4

Sum of Dataset Indices for all datasets

Average Dataset Index per Dataset

1.4

Average Dataset Index per dataset

Total Datasets

1

Total datasets for this author

Average FAIR Score

100.0%

Average FAIR Score per dataset

Total Citations

1

Total citations to the author's datasets

Total Mentions

0

Total mentions of the author's datasets

S-Index Interpretation

S-Index Over Time

Cumulative Citations Over Time

Cumulative Mentions Over Time

Datasets

Antagonistic interactions between the african weaver ant Oecophylla longinoda and the parasitoid Anagyrus pseudococci potentially limits suppression of the invasive mealybug Rastrococcus iceryoides

The ant Oecophylla longinoda Latreille forms a trophobiotic relationship with the invasive mealybug Rastrococus iceryoides Green and promotes the latter's infestations to unacceptable levels in the presence of their natural enemies. In this regard, the antagonistic interactions between the ant and the parasitoid Anagyrus pseudococci Girault were assessed under laboratory conditions. The percentage of parasitism of R. iceryoides by A. pseudococci was significantly higher on "ant-excluded" treatments (86.6% ± 1.27%) compared to "ant-tended" treatments (51.4% ± 4.13%). The low female-biased sex-ratio observed in the "ant-tended" treatment can be attributed to ants' interference during the oviposition phase, which disrupted parasitoids' ability to fertilize eggs. The mean foraging time, host handling time and number of successful oviposition in "ant-excluded" treatment were significantly higher compared to "ant-tended" treatments. When ant workers were allowed access to sterilized sand grains, mummified and unmummified R. iceryoides, they selectively removed the mummified mealybugs, indicating that they recognized the mummies as potential foods (1.2 ± 0.46 to 7.8 ± 1.17 mummies at 10 min intervals for 2 h). Percentage emergence from mummified R. iceryoides removed by the ants was significantly lower compared to emergence from mummies not exposed to ants. Although, host seeking parasitoids frequently evaded attacks, some were killed by the foraging ant workers (2.0 ± 0.38 to 6.0 ± 0.88 at 10 min intervals for 2 h). These results suggest for the first time that the presence of O. longinoda has a detrimental effect on the abundance, reproductive success and possibly oviposition strategy of female parasitoids, which might be a delimiting factor in field conditions if both natural enemies are to be recommended for use within the same agro-ecosystem.

Authors

  • Tanga, Chrysantus M ;
  • Ekesi, Sunday ;
  • Govender, Prem ;
  • Nderitu, Peterson W ;
  • Mohamed, Samira Abuelgasim
1 Citation0 Mentions100% FAIR1.4 Dataset Index
10.1594/pangaea.856087January 2015