What can a tiny wasp with a rather gruesome parasitic life cycle teach us about evolution, behavior and human developmental ...

Galls are abnormal growths and can be caused by a variety of different organisms, including insects and mites, and ...

For more than a hundred years, scientists have studied the strange partnership between ants and seeds. In this relationship, ...

Gall midge larvae feed on the lower stem and tissues at the base of the soybean plant, critically disrupting the flow of nutrients and water within the plant. Adult gall midge does not feed on ...

Tiny wasp’s shocking reproductive trick may transform global agriculture University of Stirling research has shed new light on the evolution of an important species of wasp Date: June 15, 2025 ...

Adult hover flies are beneficial to your flowers, but the young are the best friend of anyone plagued with aphids or other plant pests. While the adults gather pollen, the larvae have a hearty diet of ...

The gall serves to protect the young, developing larva from predators and other species of parasitic wasps. In many cases the gall provides a source of nutritious food for the growing larva.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are alerting farmers about a pest affecting soybean crops across the state. The bright orange larvae of the Soybean Gall Midge have ...

Other predators include birds, predatory midges, earwigs, ladybirds and their larvae, lacewing larvae and hoverfly larvae. “Hoverflies are beneficial pollinating insects and their larvae feed on ...

Significantly, the wasps lay their eggs inside small sap-sucking insects called aphids before the larvae consume their host from the inside out—meaning that they are natural pest controllers.

The discovery opens up new possibilities for improving biological pest control. Many species of parasitoid wasps are mass-reared and released as a natural alternative to pesticides because they lay ...