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The importance of being larger: parasitoid intruder–owner contests and their implications for clutch size

One of the most important relationships in parasitoid behavioural ecology is that between adult female size and fitness. However, surprisingly few studies have attempted to assess size-related components of fitness beyond fecundity and longevity. This paper provides a more complete appraisal of the size–fitness relationship in the bethylid waspGoniozus nephantidisby investigating the influences of female size and ownership-status on the outcome of owner–intruder contests for paralysed hosts. Both influenced contest outcomes: larger females tended to win, but outcome was modified in favour of owners when intruders were only moderately larger. Aggressive behaviour during contests is described. The size–fitness relationship, based on fecundity and longevity as correlates of fitness, has previously been used to estimate optimal clutch size inG. nephantidisand a large discrepancy was found between observed and predicted clutch sizes. Here it is argued that because female fitness is determined, at least in part, by body size relative to competitors, an evolutionarily stable strategy approach is required to calculate optimal clutch size when host ownership contests occur. Clutch sizes could be influenced greatly and this provides a candidate explanation for the previously reported discrepancy.