Tachinid parasitoids affect host plant choice by caterpillars to increase caterpillar survival.

From: Ecology | Date: March 1, 1997| Author: Karban, Richard; English-Loeb, Gregory | Copyright information

Current models of parasite-host interactions generally emphasize considerations of parasite virulence and parasite transmission rather than host responses to attack. We describe a situation in which parasitism causes a host to change its feeding behavior and this change improves the expected fitness of the host and probably the fitness of its parasites. We have found that a tachinid parasitoid (Thelaira americana) often emerges from its caterpillar host (Platyprepia virginalis) without killin...

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