none Drosophila melanogaster; HYMENOPTERAN-PARASITES; Asobara tabida; Superparasitism, levels, determinants & adaptive significance, model Asobara tabida; MODELLING-; Superparasitism of dipteran host; EVOLUTIONARY-ADAPTATION; Superparasitism significance, dipteran host; DIPTERAN-HOSTS; Drosophila melanogaster; Superparasitism, levels, determinants & adaptive significance, model A deterministic ESS model was made to predict optimal degrees of superparasitism, when solitary parasitoids exploit a patch simultaneously or sequentially. Some predictions of this model are: (1) increasing levels of superparasitism and (2) longer patch times (measured as the sum of search times of all females visiting a patch) with increasing numbers of females visiting the patch. (3) More superparasitism and (4) longer patch times were predicted when females visited a patch simultaneously than when the same number of females visited a patch sequentially. Experimental tests of this model with the solitary larval Drosophila parasitoid Asobara tabida were in agreement with predictions (1), (2) and (3), but no differences were found between the sums of patch times of females visiting patches simultaneously and those visiting patches sequentially. Thus, superparasitism contributes to the aggregation of parasitoids, by generating longer patch times.