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Spiteful soldiers and sex ratio conflict among parasitoid wasps

04-02-2007 · EurekAlert!

If sterile larvae are used by each sex to wage war against the other sex, then it should be primarily females who are interested in killing their brothers. This work explains the often strongly skewed sex ratios in these wasps, where females outnumber males, due to sex differences in killing behavior. More generally, it reveals how Darwinism can be used to explore the function of puzzling animal behaviors.

Keywords: spiteful, soldiers, sex, ratio, conflict, parasitoid, wasps, soldier, wasp

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