Data from: Defensive aphid symbiont Hamiltonella defensa effects on Aphelinus glycinis and Aphelinus atriplicis

<p>Endosymbiont interactions with hosts have important effects on fitness, including the fitness of many pest and beneficial species. Among these interactions, facultative endosymbiotic bacteria can protect aphids from parasitoids. <em>Aphis craccivora</em> and <em>Acyrthosiphon pisum</em> can harbor the symbiotic bacteria <em>Hamiltonella defensa</em> and its bacteriophage APSE. Infection by <em>H. defensa</em> defends these aphids against some but not all parasitoid species in the hymenopteran family Braconidae. Here, we report results on the effect of <em>H. defensa</em> on parasitism of these aphids by species in the other major lineage of aphid parasitoids, <em>Aphelinus</em> species in the family Aphelinidae. Parasitism of aphids infected with <em>H. defensa</em> /APSE by two <em>Aphelinus</em> species did not differ from that of uninfected aphids. While <em>Aphelinus atriplicis</em> showed no difference in fitness components between infected and uninfected aphids, <em>Aphelinus glycinis</em> actually produced more adult progeny and larger female progeny on infected than on uninfected aphids. <em>Aphelinus glycinis</em> may increase host quality for itself by changing the titer of nutritional versus protective bacteria in such a way that aphids infected with <em>H. defensa</em> can be made more suitable for parasitoid development than uninfected aphids. Our results and reasoning suggest that these Aphelinus species may be less prone to harm by <em>H. defensa</em> /APSE that affect eggs because they have anhydropic, heavily chorionated eggs, which may not absorb toxins during embryogenesis. </p> <p>See the included methods-DefensiveAphidSymbiont.txt file for more information on the methods and design structure of this study.</p>