Editing Parasitoid (section)

== Learning in parasitoids ==
Host location has been studied in ''[[Ormia ochracea]],'' a parasitoid tachinid fly that locates their field cricket host acoustically ([[Taxis|phonotaxis]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cade |first=W. |date=1975-12-26 |title=Acoustically Orienting Parasitoids: Fly Phonotaxis to Cricket Song |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.190.4221.1312 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=190 |issue=4221 |pages=1312–1313 |doi=10.1126/science.190.4221.1312 |issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Preference for the dominant local host species was not explained by DNA analysis. In fact, populations across the southern U.S. were inexplicably closely related, considering rate of range expansion from a presumed Central American origin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=David A. |last2=Banuelos |first2=Christina |last3=Walker |first3=Sean E. |last4=Cade |first4=William H. |last5=Zuk |first5=Marlene |date=2007-01-01 |title=Behavioural specialization among populations of the acoustically orienting parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea utilizing different cricket species as hosts |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347206003939 |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=99–104 |doi=10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.07.005 |issn=0003-3472|hdl=10211.3/195743 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> A captive population of lab-reared flies were raised on two different host songs (''Gryllus integer'' or ''G. lineaticeps''). Responsive adult females overwhelmingly chose their familiar song, indicating the use of a learned, auditory search image. This [[phenotypic plasticity]] allows such a highly specialized parasitoid to avoid overspecialization disasters. Interestingly, when receptive females only heard silence the night before testing for preference, they chose the host songs equally, 50/50.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Paur |first1=Jennifer |last2=Gray |first2=David A. |date=2011-10-01 |title=Individual consistency, learning and memory in a parasitoid fly, Ormia ochracea |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347211002971 |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=825–830 |doi=10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.07.017 |issn=0003-3472|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This capacity for learning and use of search images paired with a highly specialized morphology and lifestyle (eg. tympana tuned to host sound cues, larviparous) supports the extraordinarily fast range expansion of ''O. ochracea,'' as well as the presence and power of learning in parasitoids.