Flanders, S.E. 1942c Abortive development in parasitic Hymenoptera, induced by the food-plant of the insect host.. Journal of Economic Entomology 35: 834-835.

Notes: The food or host plant affects the parasites of plant-feeding insects directly by stimulating oviposition and host-searching activity. I may also affect the parasites indirectly, through the host insect, by modifying the rate of reproduction and nutrition of the developing larval stages. Recent investigations have indicated that marked physiological differences may exist between individuals of a single host species if such individuals feed on different food plants. These physiological differences are manifested by the developmental reactions of a parasite species inhabiting its host species on different plants. The parasite may be able to complete its development in one case but unable to do so in another. The extent of successful parasitization is apparently determined by the quality or proportion of chemical constituents of the food digested by the host. Several insect hosts, including the California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii, are known to be rendered immune to successful parasitization by certain plants upon which they feed. Oviposition by the parasites and egg incubation in these hosts are normal, but the parasites die before reaching maturity, most deaths apparently occurring during the larval feeding period.