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Description
A female Bethylid tending her brood (multiple pinking larvae) that has completely consumed a caterpillar. Bethylidae are parasitoid wasps that exhibit maternal care. Singapore
Quote from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic…
Upon finding that the hosts were suitable for oviposition, the female S. harmandi stung the host and injected venom with her ovipositor on the intersegmental membrane of the host abdomen, paralyzing the struggling host. When attacked, hosts rolled their bodies, which indicated that female were stinging the hosts and injecting venom. The female then cleaned the surface of the host to provide a habitable environment for her offspring. The female parasitoids laid a clutch of eggs onto the host surface. After a short rest, the female visited each of the eggs and patted them with its antennae gently and continuously. Moreover, the females also touched their offspring with their mouthparts and mandibles. If the eggs left the host surface, the mother clasped them with her mandibles and replaced them. During the larval stage, the female wasp bit off the epidermis in the intersegmental membrane of the hosts, resulting in some lacunae at the host surface. The larvae extended their heads into the lacunae to absorb the host haemolymph. The female parasitoids patted the offspring continuously with their antennae throughout the larval stage. When larvae overlapped, the female parasitoid clasped the overlapped larvae with its mandibles and dispersed them. If a larva died and became melanotic, the female parasitoid wasp kept it far from both the healthy larvae and the host. During the cocoon stage, the mothers still patrolled the cocoons and patted their offspring continuously. Males emerged as adults 1 or 2 days prior to females. The young male chewed a hole in the female cocoons to facilitate the emergence of the female pupae and then mated with the emerged females.
Image size
2400x1600px 2.54 MB
Make
Panasonic
Model
DMC-GX8
Shutter Speed
1/125 second
Aperture
F/8.0
Focal Length
50 mm
ISO Speed
100
Date Taken
Feb 21, 2021, 10:39:27 AM
Sensor Size
9mm
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