Sugar-feeding by adult ichneumonoid and stephanoid wasps (Hymenoptera) in dry evergreen forest, Thailand

Many temperate parasitoid wasp species are known to consume sugars as adults. However, little is known about their adult nutritional ecology in the tropics. Here we present the results of sugar analyses of adult parasitoid wasps collected in dry evergreen forest in Thailand.
Sugars were detected using cold anthrone tests, and the results validated for a subsample using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). Sugars were detected in 90% of stephanids (n=218), 81% of ichneumonids (n=563), and 60% of braconids (n=1,665).
We examined whether the presence or absence of sugar and the amount detected were influenced by family (Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, Stephanidae), body size, sex, life history strategy (idiobiont, koinobiont), or weather (rainy vs drier months).
Both the incidence of sugar-feeding and the amount detected were strongly positively correlated with body size, and season. Larger individuals were significantly more likely to b..., , # Sugar-feeding by adult ichneumonoid and stephanoid wasps (Hymenoptera) in dry evergreen forest, Thailand

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbd16](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbd16)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

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### File: Supplementary_HPAEC-PAD_.csv

**Description:**  High-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD) results of 118 parasitoid wasp individuals (representative female specimens of 12 parasitoid species.

##### Variables

* Family: Family of parasitoid wasps
* Subfamily: Subfamily of parasitoid wasps
* Genus: Genus of parasitoid wasps
* Species: Species of parasitoid wasps
* Life_history: Life history of parasitoid wasps
* Date: Date the parasitoid wasp was collected
* Sex: Sex of parasitoid wasps
* Wing: Fore wing length of parasitoid wasps (mm)
* Season: Season the parasitoid wasp was collected
* Cold_Anthrone: The optical density of cold anthrone test (parasitoid wasp samp...,