Here’s a photo of a a couple of Aphids on a Brittlebush leaf, taken in Tucson, Arizona, in March of 2004. The Aphid in the foreground is smaller, darker, and you can see that there’s a shed skin on the leaf behind her.
The interesting thing about this photo is the other Aphid, the large, round, light colored one. It’s an “Aphid Mummy”. A small Wasp laid an egg in this Aphid. The Wasp larva grew, eating the Aphid from the inside. Finally, the Aphid died, and the Wasp pupated inside the Aphid.
Eventually the Wasp will emerge from its pupa chew an exit hole in the skin of the Aphid. The new Wasp will haul itself out of the husk of the Aphid like an astronaut crawling from a space capsule.
Then the Wasp will start the whole cycle over again.
Sources:
I was just watching Eric Eaton’s presentation entitled “Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect” on Youtube. It was absolutely fascinating, and I highly recommend it.
You can watch the video here.
