Parasitoid wasps on a female bush cricket

  • Thomas Ayshford & Andrew Polaszek
  • Digital Images
  • Online

Available online

view Parasitoid wasps on a female bush cricket

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

You can use this work for any purpose, including commercial uses, without restriction under copyright law. You should also provide attribution to the original work, source and licence. Read more about this licence.

Credit

Parasitoid wasps on a female bush cricket. Thomas Ayshford & Andrew Polaszek. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Selected images from this work

View 1 image

About this work

Description

Photograph of 4 adult female parasitoid wasps on the base of the egg-laying organ (ovipositor) of a large bush cricket female. When the cricket lays her eggs the wasps will descend the ovipositor, quickly laying their own eggs inside those of the cricket. This 'riding' behaviour is called 'phoresy' and is probably far more widespread in parasitoids than presently known. This parasitoid is a new species, each approximately 1 mm in length.

Permanent link