Project Videos

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Nasonia

Feb 15, 2012
This is of the second pupa that was opened. The wasp were mostly hatched and ready to get out! Watch the first female wasp emerge.
Feb 15, 2012
This female's wings are still incased in sacks at her sides. Over all she had a very difficult time molting and some of the skin is still stuck to her in other places. Five other wasp from this clutch suffered from similar difficulties, three died including this female.
Feb 17, 2012
Here is another example of a troubled molt. This female, named Littlewing, had a difficult time removing the molt from her wings and from her antenna. After one whole day, she successfully removed the shed but her wings were deformed perhaps by the delay. Her wings remain shortened and curled slightly at the tips.
Feb 21, 2012
Littlewing is housed with a normal female named Leelu. Leon, the only male from this clutch, was introduced to see if males participated in mate selection. Littlewing and Leon paired first, I believe in part because she is less active than Leelu, the normal female.
Feb 21, 2012
Leelu and Leon pairing. Luckily this happened on the side of the petri dish with Littlewing in the blurry foreground. In this clip you can clearly see after some wasp equivalent to necking, Leon uses Leelu's antenna like levers, pushing them all the way down she becomes receptive to mating. Afterwards he comes back and contracts Leelu again for reasons yet to be determined.
Feb 21, 2012
Leon has returned to check on Littlewing. This gives a better look at some antenna interaction. It is yet to be determined if continued attention from the male increases the female's likely hood of using his sperm or if he is simply checking to see if she is willing to mate.
Mar 2, 2012
Leelu spent much of the day injecting her eggs into this fly pupa. In this 2 minute and 20 second clip, the injection tube is visible as are light and dark shadows pumping down the tube into the pupa. The females spend anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes injecting. Leelu decided to inject this same spot at least four separate times, sometimes feeding from the hole in between.
Mar 9, 2012
After spending time alone laying eggs, Leelu gets a visit from Pat and Seamus. Pat is a very large male and Seamus is about average, I thought it would be interesting to see if Leelu would prefer one over the other. Based on the previous video with Leelu and Leon mating, I was curious if an opportunistic male could sneak in and mate. As it turned out, Leelu ended up with both males on her back and she ended up rejecting them both.
Mar 9, 2012
Seamus was chased off by Pat who has become aggressive and tries to force mating with Leelu who rejects him by kicks him away. Pat attacks Seamus after Leelu walks away. Pat was removed from the dish but both Leelu and Seamus were shaken up by the experience and would run off in opposite directions when ever they came in contact with each other.










Braconid

Braconid Larva