Data for "Host range versus host efficiency: Testing the specialist–generalist trade-off in parasitoid wasps"

Parasitoid wasps may be especially subject to this trade-off, as successful parasitism requires both precise venom-mediated manipulation of host physiology and larval evasion of host immune defenses, which could vary considerably across a broad host range.

However, direct tests of this trade-off in parasitoids remain scarce. Here, we compare two closely related ectoparasitoids that differ markedly in host breadth: the Diptera specialist <i>Nasonia vitripennis</i> and the true generalist <i>Trichomalopsis sarcophagae</i> (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Despite over a decade of exclusive laboratory rearing on a single host, <i>T. sarcophagae</i> successfully parasitized six of seven tested host species spanning three insect orders across four generations, including the first laboratory documentation of coleopteran parasitism in this species, however it was not successful on a second coleopteran host.