Insect of the Week!

Every week we will showcase an interesting insect that we work with (or hope to work with). Enjoy!

bugguide.net
Dinocampus coccinellae

D. coccinellae is a common parasitoid wasp of lady beetles (a parasitoid is different than the typical parasite, because upon the successful development of the larvae, the host always dies. Typical parasites do not kill their hosts). This particular parasitoid will search for lady beetles, and then inject them with their eggs. The larvae grow inside of the lady beetle, and their eventual emergence to form a pupae (cocoon) is what kills their host.

This summer we hope to observe lady beetles collected from the field for emerging D. coccinellae larvae (and other parasitoid species as well). We then want to compare parasitism rates between native and exotic lady beetle species.