Evolutionary and Applied Aspects of the Behavioural Ecology of the Stemborer Parasitoid Cotesia flavipes

Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a braconid larval parasitoid that has been used in the biological control of tropical stemborers in gramineous plants. The current research status on the behavioural ecology of this parasitoid is reviewed. The stimuli involved in the location of the host-microhabitat and the behaviour on infested plants and inside stemborer tunnels are discussed. Several aspects of the host foraging behaviour on C. flavipes are discussed in relation to the ecology of the parasitoid, such as the role of learning in foraging and clutch size allocation decisions. Variation in behaviour can be an obstacle in the effective use of natural enemies in biological control. Behavioural variation may exist because individuals differ genetically in their propensity to find or accept different hosts. Individuals may also differ because they have experienced different environments (i.e. learning). The second part of this paper focuses on the intraspecific variability in C. flavipes behaviour and discusses to what extent the reported plant and host specificity in C. flavipes has a genetic basis or is due to phenotypic plasticity through learning.