Like Matryoshka Dolls: One Insect Species Introduced Decades Ago to A Small Island Had an Effect on Several Insect Populations
Published:10 Aug.2021 Source:University of Helsinki
Larvae of the Glanville fritillary butterfly, Melitaea cinxia, were introduced to the island of Sottunga in the Åland Islands, Finland, in 1991. The original research project for which this introduction was aimed failed. However, although the island was previously free of the butterfly, the relocated species persisted, offering the ground for investigating how an entire insect community could be affected by one introduction event.
"What the researchers did not know 30 years ago was that the larvae carried along with them the butterfly parasitoid wasp Hyposoter horticola. The parasitoid then carried its hyperparasitoid wasp Mesochorus stigmaticus, and a mum-to-offspring transmitted bacterial symbiont Wolbachia pipientis that somehow increases the susceptibility of the host H. horticola to M. stigmaticus," says Academy research fellow at the University of Helsinki, Dr. Anne Duplouy.