Fig 1.
Illustrative presentation of different developmental stages of brood in Isodontia harmandi nest.
Developmental stage [I], eggs, which are singly laid on each prey by female wasp; [II], hatchlings, which emerged and begin to consume their own prey; [III], middle-sized larvae, which move around and consume one and another prey in the brood cell; [IV], full-grown larvae have consumed almost all prey; and [V], almost all larvae spun their own cocoons.
Fig 2.
Changes in brood size along the developmental stages of brood in Isodontia harmandi.
Brood size data for five years during 2010 to 2015 were pooled for different sex categories of broods. Different letters indicate statistical significance in brood size between pairwise comparison of developmental stages of brood.
Fig 3.
Relationship between clutch size and per capita prey weight in different sex categories of brood in Isodontia harmandi.
Per-capita prey weight significantly decreased with clutch size for each sex category of brood. Lines and shaded parts indicate linear regression and 95% confidence interval for each sex category of brood.
Fig 4.
Relationship between survival of individual wasp offspring and total prey weight per brood in whole brood rearing experiment.
Survival of wasp offspring were shown during eggs or early larvae to cocoon stage (A) and during cocoon to adult emerging stage (B). Logistic regression lines with 95% confidential intervals were fitted to female brood data at three values of brood sizes (3.9, 6.8, and 9.7) for larval survival, indicating a significant positive effect of total prey weight and a significant negative effect of brood size on larval survival. There was no relationship between cocoon survival and total prey weight or brood size. There was no difference in larval survival between female and male brood. But larval survival of sex-unknown broods differed significantly from male broods and marginally from female broods (Table G in S5 File). Dot size indicates the number of wasp offspring.
Table 1.
Outcomes of individual broods in partial brood rearing experiments performed under frame-by-frame recording by digital camera.