Little is known of the fate of viruses involved in long-term obligatory associations with eukaryotes. For example, many species of parasitoid wasps have symbiotic viruses to manipulate host defenses and to allow development of parasitoid larvae. The complete nucleotide sequence of the DNA enclosed in the virus particles injected by a parasitoid wasp revealed a complex organization, resembling a...

gregopimpla malacosomae (seyrig) was collected and identified as a parasitoid of malacosoma castrense (l.), during the research on the bioecology of the latter species in shohada (gasemloo) valley, urmia. this ichneumonid wasp is a new record for iran.

Parasitoids are mostly insects that develop at the expense of other arthropods, which will die as a result of the interaction. Their reproductive success thus totally depends on their ability to successfully infest their host whose reproductive success relies on its own ability to avoid or overcome parasitism. Such intense selective pressures have resulted in extremely diverse adaptations in pa...

The detection of harmful stimuli - nociception - has been suggested to rely on evolutionarily conserved neuronal mechanisms. A recent study has shown how the activity of nociceptive neurons in Drosophila larvae triggers a defense mechanism against a parasitoid wasp.

The parasitoid wasp Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Rondani) is a common pupal parasitoid of many fly pests that is distributed worldwide. This organism can be used for biological control in orchards or livestock farms. Identifying polymorphic microsatellite loci would be useful for analyzing the population genetic structure of the parasitoid. In the current study, based on a modified biotin-captur...

Multipartite nucleic acid-containing virus-like particles, known as polydnaviruses, are special structures produced by female parasitoid wasps to deliver wasp components into the body of their host at oviposition. The particles confer protection for the developing parasitoid by passive and active means. Although several genes expressed from the circular DNA of these particles have been identifi...

the asiatic citrus psyllid, diaphorina citri kuwayama (hom.: psyllidae), is one of the most important pests on citrus in tropical and subtropical asia. it was detected in iran during the recent years and distributed in some parts of hormozgan and sistan-baluchestan provinces. during the survey carried out to determine natural enemies of this psyllid, a nymphal parasitoid wasp was identified as ...

in the course of study on larval parasitoids of carob moth, ectomyelois ceratoniae zeller (lep.: pyralidae), an hyperparasitoid wasp, pachycrepoideus vindemmiae rondani, was collected from pupae of apanteles sp. (hym.: braconidae). the latter species is the larval parasitoid of the carob moth. the p. vindemmiae belongs to the family pteromalidae and is a new record for iran insect fauna.

The role of JAK/STAT signaling in the cellular immune response of Drosophila is not well understood. Here, we show that parasitoid wasp infection activates JAK/STAT signaling in somatic muscles of the Drosophila larva, triggered by secretion of the cytokines Upd2 and Upd3 from circulating hemocytes. Deletion of upd2 or upd3, but not the related os (upd1) gene, reduced the cellular immune respon...