Arthropods Codexery

Parasitoid wasp

Parasitoid wasps lay eggs in other arthropods, eventually killing them.

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Parasitoid wasp larvae develop inside or outside a single host, and the host is killed by the time the larva pupates.[1][2] Agricultural pests are naturally controlled by many parasitoid wasp species, which is why humans view them as beneficial.[3]

Quick Facts

Field
Entomology, Parasitology
Known for
  • Parasitoidism
  • biological pest control
  • mutualism with polydnaviruses
Key groups
  • Chalcidoidea
  • Ichneumonidae
  • Braconidae
  • Pompilidae

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Parasitoid wasps mainly follow one of two strategies: endoparasitic (developing inside the host) and koinobiont (allowing the host to continue feeding), or ectoparasitic (developing outside) and idiobiont (paralysing the host immediately).[1] Parasitoidism in wasps influenced the thinking of Charles Darwin, who wrote in 1860 about the Ichneumonidae feeding within living caterpillars.[3][4] A single evolutionary origin of parasitoidism in the Hymenoptera occurred during the Permian period, creating the clade Euhymenoptera.[5][6] The ancestor that first exhibited parasitoidism existed around 247 million years ago.[7]

A long, sharp ovipositor is present at the abdomen tip of most females; this structure sometimes lacks venom glands.[8] Larvae of Lepidoptera are a common host for many parasitoid wasp species.[9] Nearly all other insect orders, particularly Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, and other Hymenoptera, have some life stages that are parasitized by certain parasitoid wasp groups.[9] The parasitoid's entire food source until adulthood is the host, making host size a critical factor for its development.[10]

What the cited sources add

That same source notes the wasp's life cycle takes between 10 and 30 days, depending on temperature, and it works best at 20-28°C.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Herniou, "When parasitic wasps hijacked viruses: genomic and functional evolution of polydnaviruses", Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 19 September 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paladino, "Immature stages of development in the parasitoid wasp, Diachasmimorpha longicaudata", Journal of Insect Science, January 2010, p. 56; "Cotesia congregata - a parasitoid wasp", entnemdept.ufl.edu (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Letter 2814 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 22 May [1860]" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Letter 2814 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 22 May [1860]"; Prothero, "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters", Columbia University Press, 2017, p. 84–86 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zhang, "Burmorussidae, a new family of parasitic wasps (Insecta, Hymenoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber", Papers in Palaeontology, November 2020, p. 593–603 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Branstetter, "Phylogenomic Insights into the Evolution of Stinging Wasps and the Origins of Ants and Bees", Current Biology, 2017, p. 1019–1025; Schulmeister, "Simultaneous analysis of basal Hymenoptera (Insecta), introducing robust-choice sensitivity analysis", Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, p. 245–275; Schulmeister, "Symphyta"; Peters, "Evolutionary History of the Hymenoptera", Current Biology, 2017, p. 1013–1018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Peters, "Evolutionary History of the Hymenoptera", Current Biology, 2017, p. 1013–1018; Heraty, "Evolution of the hymenopteran megaradiation", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2011, p. 73–88 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Insects: An Outline of Entomology", Wiley, 2010, p. 362–370 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cushman R. A., "Syntomaspis druparum, the apple-seed chalcid", Journal of Agricultural Research, 1916, p. 487–502 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Parasitoid wasp" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cohen, "Body sizes of hosts and parasitoids in individual feeding relationships", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 12 January 2005, p. 684–689; Jones, "Sex Ratio and Host Size in a Parasitoid Wasp", Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 1982, p. 207–210 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Enforce for Greenhouse Whitefly Control", Bioforce Limited. facts only, no text reused. bioforce.net.nz

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Parasitoid wasp (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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