An international team of entomologists has described a new, bizarre species of wasp that rides on the back of damselflies before laying eggs inside damselfly eggs.
Hydrophylita emporos riding on the abdomen of the damselfly Psolodesmus mandarinus mandarinus (Shih YT et al)
The newly discovered wasp belongs to the wasp genus Hydrophylita. The genus contains just four other described species, all from South America.
The wasp, named Hydrophylita emporos, is the first species of its subgenus that has been found in Asia, and the first observed transporting itself on another organism.
“The specific epithet emporos means ‘passenger’ in Latin, reflecting the phoretic behavior of adult females,” the entomologists explained in a paper published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.
They spotted tiny Hydrophylita emporos – adults of the species measure only 1.2 mm in length – riding on the back of a damselfly while collecting insects near Taipei.
Adult Hydrophylita emporos females wait at the base of the damselfly’s abdomen and then walk down it into the water when the damselfly lays its eggs, and lay their own eggs inside them. When the wasp larvae hatch they feed on the damselfly’s eggs until they are ready to pupate.
This is the newly discovered Hydrophylita emporos (Shih YT)
“Males of Hydrophylita emporos appear to be very rare – 125 females for one male, and we believe that the males may remain under water for most of their life cycle,” the team wrote.
“It is unknown how these parasitoids overcome the effect of the current of water while searching for hosts, and are apparently able to respire under water for up to 24 hours.”
The scientists plan to reveal the morphological adaptations that allow this remarkable insect to live a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
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Bibliographic information: Shih YT et al. 2013. Hydrophylita (Lutzimicron) emporos Shih & Polaszek (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) from Taiwan, Parasitising Eggs, and Phoretic on Adults, of the Damselfly Psolodesmus mandarinus mandarinus (Zygoptera: Calopterygidae). PLoS ONE 8 (7): e69331; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069331
