Page 20 (1/1)

Chapter 20

THE PARASITE OF MY PARASITE IS MY FRIEND

Here is the story of how parasitic wasps saved twenty et to hear about mealworms, a kind of insect that&039;s just as unpleasant as its na - a cluster of thousands looks like a tiny white speck But this single speck can devastate whole continents Here&039;s how:

The average ht hundred kids, al can have eight hundred more kids Do the randchildren And they aren&039;t really wor ones can fly, carried froo

Thirty years ago, a species ofa staple crop called cassava and al death toll for a microscopic parasite Fortunately, however, cassava mealworms have their own parasite, a species of wasp from South America

A word about parasitic wasps: nasty Instead of a stinger, they kill with sos instead of venos are much worse than poison At least with poison, you die fast

Here&039;s asp eggs do to their unlucky hosts: So teeth and hooked tails They roauts of any children left by other wasps (Parasitic wasps are very territorial) Other eggs hatch into wasp larvae, which are basically big bloated stos, they ravenously consurow into wasps thes, the larvae eat their way out into the world and fly off to lay s The soldiers don&039;t leave, they just stay behind with the dried-up, dying host, having done their duty for their waspy brothers and sisters (Isn&039;t that sweet?)

So what happened in Africa? Long story short: The crops were saved

Once the right species of as let loose, the mealworms were dead meat Mealworo, the wasps can follow Wasps can fly too, after all, and they&039;re pretty le plant in a huge field is infected, the wasps will find the s No one really knoasps track downtheory:

The infected plant asks for help

That&039;s right: When a cassava plant is attacked by nals to any wasps in the area Some unknown che red highway flare saying, Help me! Help e is: Mealworms! Get your hot delicious mealworms!

You could say that the cassava and the parasitic wasp have an evolutionary deal: "I&039;ll tell you when I&039;m infected with s in thereat relationship, because the parasite of your parasite is your friend