Are sexes equally parasitized in damselflies and dragonflies?

What is it about?

In this paper we wanted to find out whether males or females are more likely to be infected with parasites. As study species we used different dragonfly and damselfly species and two kinds of parasites they have: endoparasitic gregarines and ectoparasitic water mites. We found that on a general level neither sex was more likely or more strongly to be infected than the other. However, female damsefllies were more likely to be infected with gregarines than males and there were a few species were the other sex was more parasitized than the other. We also found that sexes shared a similar level of parasitism within a species, meaning that when females had a high level of parasites, so did males and vice versa. Our results indicate that at least in damselflies and dragonflies both sexes are similarly infected with parasites. That being said, we do not know why certain species have similar levels or why there are differences highlighting the need for further studies.

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Why is it important?

This is the largest and most thorough research done on insects about sex differences in parasitism. Previous studies that have dealt with this topic have used a very limited number of host species, which limits the depth an analysis can make. Our results broaden our understanding on host-parasite interactions and how sexes differ in their relationship with parasites.