Fecundity experiment

We compared fecundity of 3 longstanding laboratory colonies (1st exp) and of 2 longstanding lab colonies and colonies recently established from field collected individuals (2nd exp). Female wasps were individually paired for 24 h in small vials with a conspecific male. Females were then placed individually in arenas with leaf disks bearing about 80 whitefly nymphs. The leaf disks rested on a layer of agar in ventilated 35 mm agar Petri dishes. Females were transferred to new whitefly-infested arenas every other day until day eight. At day 4, we provided females with the opportunity to mate again to avoid the risk of sperm depletion by introducing a male into the arena for 24h. Arenas were kept at 27°C, 16L:8D, and 65% RH. After females were removed on day 8, arenas were incubated for approximately 10 more days. At the end of this period, we recorded the number of progeny pupae, a proxy for adult emergence, as a measure of fecundity.