Taking Aim
The parasitic wasp Dinocampus coccinellae prepares to inject a ladybug spotted with a single egg in an image file. The ladybug was paralyzed by the venom of the wasp.

When the eggs hatch into larvae that developed a few days and then bite a small hole through the abdomen of the beetle. The larvae will spin a cocoon between the legs of the beetles, whose body will rest at the top of the cocoon the larva undergoes metamorphosis. (See pictures of insects from egg).

A recent study, Journal of Biology Letters, the researchers note that some larval ladybugs survive at birth, and in those cases, D. coccinellae Bug larva then "brainwashed" in defense of the most vulnerable to predators, Cocoon, said co-author, Jacques Brodeur, a biologist at the University of Montreal.

"The parasite is capturing the behavior of its host, which is why we call it a manipulation of a bodyguard," said Brodeur, who has worked as a doctoral student Fanny Moor.


Emerging Larva
Wasp larva worm is the host of beetles in a recent photo.

Although most of the parasites eventually kill their hosts, infected wasps ladybugs have a "destination atypical" ladybugs in the study, some survive their "horrible" event. For example, Brodeur's team observed in the field experience of 30 to 40 percent of infected beetles lived after the wasp-born youth, including some who later laid their eggs clean.

It houses the bug can survive, because the wasp larva feeds only tissues that are not crucial for the survival of a ladybird, such as fat, the researchers say.


"Bodyguard" On Duty
Once a ladybug still takes his job in the cocoons of the wasp as seen in a recent photo-l'insecte act aggressively toward intruders, for example, moving the legs. Scientists suspect that behavioral tics derived from the venom left in the body of the beetle larva emerges after and builds its cocoon.

In the laboratory, Brodeur and his team placed lacewing predators in Petri dishes containing buds covered by the beetles live buds covered by other dead beetles or ladybird cocoon of bodyguards needed.

The results showed that lacewings were forced to be flexible in its ambition to attack the cocoons are protected by the "zombified" ladybugs.


Wasps in Waiting
The length of time a ladybug larva of the wasp managed to protect its cocoon also vary from insect to insect. In some cases, the beetle remained alert until the larvae emerged from its cocoon as a young wasp. In other cases, the beetle was under the control of the wasp a few days, Brodeur said.

The team found that the wasp larvae that has invested more time and energy in the control of his bodyguards Mariquita put less of their own eggs and larvae and adults who have not.

It's the first time researchers have demonstrated trade-offs and host manipulation

fertility, he said.


Wiry Cocoon
Wasp cocoons D. Coccinella seen in a close-up image. The species is widespread throughout the world, including Asia and Europe, Brodeur said: "It is quite cosmopolitan."

The parasites are very proud when they choose their bodyguards: they only infects beetles.


Newborn Wasp
Finally a new wasp, as seen above, shows the protected cocoon.

With new research, Brodeur said he has solved a mystery that arose during a walk outdoors in Canada.

"It 'is quite common when you're in the woods to see the ladybugs Cocoon above, we wondered why it was so," he said.