Tiny Fairyfly Wasp Lays Its Eggs Inside Leafhopper Eggs
Posted on January 24, 2012
A tiny fairyfly wasp was discovered by an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside in upstate New York in August, 2010. The wasp had never been seen in the U.S. before this date. Now the wasp has been found a year later in Irvine, California. Serguei Triapitsyn, the entomologist who found the wasp, says the find suggests the wasp is becoming well established in the U.S.
Gonatocerus ater is just 1 mm long. It arrived in North America from Europe. It lays eggs inside the eggs of leafhoppers. Leafhopper females like to lay their eggs inside plant tissue. Fairyfly wasp females locate the leafhopper eggs and lay their own eggs inside them. When the wasp eggs hatch, the larvae eat the leafhopper eggs.
Serguei Triapitsyn, director of the Entomology Research Museum, says, "This wasp was accidentally introduced in North America. It most likely got here in parasitized eggs of the leafhoppers in twigs of Lombardy poplar seedlings coming from Europe, perhaps long ago."
The tiny little wasp poses no known risk, except to leafhoppers.
Triapitsyn says, "It actually helps naturally control leafhopper numbers. In its absence, leafhopper populations could have skyrocketed. This illustrates how plant pests are sometimes accompanied by their natural enemies across very long distances without our knowledge."