Potential fitness consequences of associative learning in a parasitoid wasp

Several studies have documented associative learning in insects, but the adaptive value of such learning is not yet well understood. To evaluate this issue, we quantified long-term fitness consequences of associative learning in the parasitoid wasp, Biosteres arisanus. We compared individual wasps that were allowed to choose host substrate based on experience (“learning” wasps) to wasps that could only make random substrate choice (“random” …