This parasitic wasp is even tinier than the fly, but just as determined to lay her eggs. Her favorite spot is inside a fly’s growing maggot. She can feel vibrations that lead her to a fly maggot moving below the fruit’s surface.
She slides a thin needle into the blueberry and injects an egg straight into a maggot. The wasp egg hatches. But instead of killing the fly maggot right away, it waits for it to plump up and develop a hard casing. Then the wasp maggot devours the fly and grows into an adult.
All that’s left of the fly is its casing, from which the triumphant wasp emerges. It’s a boy! You can tell by the long antennae.
Scientists have been raising these wasps in labs in the U.S. Soon they’ll be released into fields across the country. Based on their research, scientists say the wasps will almost exclusively target spotted wing drosophila and the occasional common fruit fly.
The wasps can cut down the number of flies, but only up to about half. So, farmers will still need to use some pesticides. They’ll be playing a game of whack-a-mole to prevent flies from turning our scrumptious berries into mush.
Hey, Deep Peeps! If you liked seeing the spotted wing drosophila meet its match, we have an episode about the gruesome death of fruit flies. Watch how a killer fungus turns them into spore-launching zombies. Enjoy!
