DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7933
title: Data from: Molecular analysis of parasitoid linkages (MAPL): gut contents of adult parasitoid wasps reveal larval host

description: Metamorphosing insects often have complex and poorly known life-histories.
 In particular, what they feed on during their larval stages remains
 unknown for the vast majority of species and its documentation only
 results from difficult and time-intensive field observations, rearing or
 dissections. Through the application of a DNA analysis of gut contents in
 adult parasitoid wasps, we were able to selectively sequence a diagnostic
 DNA marker that permitted the identification of the host used by these
 wasps during their larval stages. By reproducing these results in species
 with different life-histories, we excluded other potential sources of host
 DNA, confirming that after ingestion by the parasitoid larva the host DNA
 can persist through metamorphosis in the abdominal contents of the adult
 wasp. Our discovery considerably extends the applicability of molecular
 analysis of gut contents by enabling documentation of the food used by
 insects during their larval stages and thus increasing the accuracy and
 precision of food web-studies. The 24% success rate of our approach is
 surprisingly high considering the challenging context for host DNA
 preservation, and we discuss the factors possibly affecting this rate. We
 propose Molecular Analysis of Parasitoid Linkages (MAPL) as a new method
 to document host-parasitoid associations at a faster pace and with
 unrivalled precision. Because of the key regulatory role of parasitoid
 wasps in ecosystems, which makes them the most commonly used biological
 control agents, MAPL will have immediate applications in both basic and
 applied biological sciences.
description: GenBank_Diptera_MLepR1Sequences for MLepR1 primer binding site in 1990 species of Diptera as retrieved from GenBank on Sep.2010 (via BOLD)GenBank_Lepidoptera_MLepR1Sequences for MLepR1 primer binding site in 2711 species of Lepidoptera as retrieved from GenBank on Sep.2010 (via BOLD)GenBank_wasps_MLepR1Sequences for MLepR1 primer binding site in 342 species of parasitoid wasps as retrieved from GenBank on Sep.2010 (via BOLD)List of 297 wasp records for primer testList of the 297 wasp samples used to test for amplification success of primer MLepR1 in parasitoid wasps.WaspCOI_297samples_Fig2Fasta file for COI barcode sequences of the 297 wasp samples used to test for amplification success of primer MLepR1 in parasitoid wasps.Data 29 retrieved host samplesData file for the 29 records of host samples retrieved from molecular analysis of the wasps' abdominal contents.Data 29 wasp samplesData file for the 29 wasp samples for which host DNA was retrieved after molecular analysis of the wasps' abdominal contents.29Host sequences retrieved from gutsFasta file for the 29 host sequences (partial COI barcode) retrieved from molecular analysis of the adult wasps' abdominal contents.26 of 29 wasp sequencesFasta file for COI barcodes obtained in 26 of the 29 wasp samples from which host sequences were also retrieved after molecular analysis of abdominal contents.29host_boldtracefilesElectropherogram / trace files for the host partial COI barcode sequences retrieved from molecular analysis of abdominal contents of wasp samples using primer pair LepF1/MLepR1.