Modificación comportamental de la araña Cryptachaea jequirituba (Araneae: Theridiidae) inducida por el parasitoide Zatypota alborhombarta (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae)

• Autor(a) principal: Cifuentes Vargas, Erika Tatiana
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: spa
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: https://locus.ufv.br//handle/123456789/31771; https://doi.org/10.47328/ufvbbt.2023.701
• topic: Aranhas - Comportamento; Teias; Parasitoides; Ecologia Teórica

The ability of a parasite to manipulate host phenotype is evidenced in several phylogenetic lineages of parasites. Modification is understood as any phenotypic alteration in the behaviour, morphology and/or physiology of the host that promotes improved fitness of the parasite. Therefore, most manipulation studies are based on these visible changes. In addition, such manipulated organisms are not only minor alterations, but profoundly manipulated organisms, so that the alteration is not just a phenotypic trait but the relationship of a set of characteristics which change and are generally beneficial to the parasite. One such parasitoid organism reported are the wasps Ichnenumonidae. Among them are the clade Polysphincta which are koinobiont ectoparasites of adult spiders. They promote a set of alterations in the construction of the web when parasitized by third instar wasp larvae which is called "cocoon web". This web appears to be simpler and stronger, apparently in order to protect the parasitoid by providing stability and security against being easily broken by predators or abiotic factors. In recent years, more research has been done on the parasite-host relationship, to understand the mechanism of manipulation and its implications in different species. Therefore, in this study we describe a new case of behavioural modification in Cryptachaea jequirituba parasitized by Zatypota alborhombarta. We describe the characteristics of cocoon webs performed by parasitized spiders and compare them with the different periods of vulnerability such as the juvenile phase and during parental care. For this, the field phase was carried out in the Parque Estadual de Itaúnas-ES. We collected second and third larval stage parasitized spiders, unparasitized juveniles and individuals in parental care (egg sac and offspring). They were then installed in a three-dimensional structure that was designed according to the size of Cryptachaea jequirituba. We found significant differences in cocoon web designs compared to unparasitized webs, in which the modified webs were constructed with fewer total number of threads, lower percentage of glued threads and higher percentage of threads with end reinforcement, along with higher presence of leaf reinforcement (shelter). On the other hand, we found only differences in cocoon webs when compared with the different stages of the spider. Thus, suggesting that modification is not a process based on mechanisms associated with reproduction or juvenile phase, which may be associated with anachronistic activation of other processes or simply represent "retaining" individuals in some specific behavioural routines of the web-building process. Keywords: web modification. Cocoon web. Darwin wasps. Orb web spider. Pimplinae.