Experimental studies in insect parasitism. II.―Superparasitism

Abstract

The group of parasites known as parasitoids nourish themselves on the tissues of their host and eventually entirely devour it. It follows that the number of parasitoids that can and sufficient nourishment to complete their development on a single host is strictly limited. Most species, indeed, require an entire host for their development, but some, which are small in comparison with their victim, need only a part of its tissues so that a number can reach maturity on one host. It sometimes happens in nature that an individual host is attacked by more parasites than can develop upon it. This phenomenon, the occurrence of more parasitoids of a single species on a host than its tissues can support, is known as superparasitism