Reproductive parasites are vertically-transmitted microbes that manipulate host reproduction in ways that enhance their own transmission. We have found a bacterium unrelated to Wolbachia associated with parthenogenesis in Encarsia populations. We have also found the bacterium in one sexual population of E. pergandiella. Experiments designed to test possible reproductive effects of the bacterium in the sexual population will be discussed.
Species 1: Hemiptera Aleyrodidae Bemisia tabaci (sweetpotato whitefly)
Species 2: Hymenoptera Aphelinidae Encarsia pergandiella
Keywords: Wolbachia, parthenogenesis
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA