Knowra Parasitoid wasp Parasitoid wasp A wasp whose developing offspring live on or inside a host and eventually kill it. Unlike typical parasites, parasitoid larvae ultimately kill their hosts.
Ovipositor : An egg-laying organ, often modified for piercing or injecting eggs into a substrate or host. Female parasitoid wasps use it to place eggs on or inside hosts.
Parasitoid : An organism whose immature stage develops in or on a single host and ultimately kills it. Parasitoid wasps are insects within this broader ecological category.
Biological pest control : The use of living organisms to reduce populations of pests. Parasitoid wasps suppress pest insects without relying solely on chemical pesticides.
Trophic cascade : An ecological chain in which effects at one trophic level alter populations or processes at other levels. By reducing herbivore numbers, parasitoid wasps can indirectly affect plants and other consumers.
Polydnavirus : A virus-derived genetic system carried by some parasitoid wasps and injected into hosts with their eggs. Its products suppress host defenses, helping parasitoid larvae survive.
Parasitism : A relationship in which one organism benefits at another organism's expense, usually without immediately killing it. Unlike ordinary parasites, parasitoids characteristically kill the host during development.
Trichogramma : A genus of tiny parasitoid wasps whose larvae develop inside the eggs of other insects. Species are released to attack the eggs of crop-damaging moths.
Coevolution : Reciprocal evolutionary change between interacting species. Host defenses and parasitoid countermeasures can evolve in response to one another.
Host immune response : The cellular and molecular defenses an organism uses to detect and eliminate pathogens, parasites, and foreign cells. A host may encapsulate and kill parasitoid eggs unless the wasp evades or suppresses these defenses.
Holometabolism : Development through egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages, with a complete metamorphosis. The wasp's parasitic feeding occurs in its larval stage before pupation and adulthood.
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