About Nasonia vitripennis

The jewel wasp (Nasonia vitripennis), is an important model for parasitoid genomics. Female wasps inject venom (which is ultimately fatal) into a host pupa and lay eggs on its surface, beneath the wall of the puparium. After about 2 weeks the adult wasps, having fed on the pupa, eat their way through the puparium, where the females mate with the (flightless) males before dispersing.

Parasitoid wasps are of practical interest because there are a vast number of species, and a correspondingly vast number of host species, including many that are considered to be agricultural pests. The wasps are thus a potential biological alternative to chemical insecticides; N. vitripennis is a generalist with respect to host species, parasitizing a range of blowflies and houseflies. The Nasonia species are interfertile and are amenable to study in a laboratory, and their haplodiploid sex-determination reduces the complexity of genetic studies [2]. Combined with the genome data, these factors permit the investigation of a wide range of evolutionary topics, including speciation, development[3], and host-parasite dynamics.

Picture credit (public domain): M. E. Clark 2006

Taxonomy ID 7425

Data source Caltech

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