Parasitoid, ichneumonid wasp exit hole in chrysalis of a spicebush swallowtail. See description below for the wasp.

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Ichneumonid wasps are parasitoids. A parasitoid differs from a parasite in that it eventually kills its host. The waps lay an egg in a caterpillar. The developing wasp larva then feeds on the caterpillar host. Eventually, as seen in the picture, the larval wasp matures and leaves the chrysalis of the caterpillar that it has devoured. See image AHYHY2 for the wasp that emerged from this hole.

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Size: 5266px × 3525px
Photo credit: © Martin Shields / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: caterpillar, chrysalis, dead, ecological, exit, hole, host, insect, interaction, lethal, papilio, parasitic, parasitism, parasitoid, spicebush, swallowtail, symbiosis, troilus, wasp