Partaking in this grisly feast are the larvae of a parasitoid wasp, Copidosoma floridanum. Like other wasps, Copidosoma are haplodiploid: Fertilized eggs produce females; unfertilized eggs become males. These wasps are also polyembryonic: Eggs split to produce many clonal embryos. A single host may contain multiple eggs from multiple females, resulting in a hodgepodge of genetic relationships. ...

The first North American record for Elachertus scutellatus , a parasitoid of Calpodes ethlius Stoll, occurred August 1999, in Florida. A simple rearing protocol was established to allow the morphology and development of this wasp to be examined. The egg and larval morphology and development of E. scutellatus resemble other Elachertus species. The freshlyecdysed pupa, on the other hand, is rare ...

Augmentative releases of parasitoid wasps are often used successfully for biological control of fruit flies in programs worldwide. The development of cheaper and more effective augmentative releases of the parasitoid wasp Diachasmimorpha tryoni (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) may allow its use to be expanded to cover Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae),...

The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia is the most widespread bacteria in insects, yet the ecology of novel acquisitions in natural host populations is poorly understood. Using temporal data separated by 12 years, I tested the hypothesis that immigration of a parasitoid wasp led to transmission of its Wolbachia strain to its dipteran host, resulting in double-strain infection, and I used geograp...

As parasites coevolve with their hosts, they can evolve counter-defenses that render host immune responses ineffective. These counter-defenses are more likely to evolve in specialist parasites than generalist parasites; the latter face variable selection pressures between the different hosts they infect. Natural populations of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are commonly threatened by end...