Thoron metallicus

This week brings Thoron metallicus, a tenacious parasitoid wasp that parasitizes the eggs of aquatic bugs known as water scorpions (Hemiptera: Nepidae). Water scorpions lay their eggs on aquatic vegetation, but even submerged eggs are not safe from Thoron.

Numerous genera in Platygastroidea are known to parasitize the eggs of aquatic insects and to reach their hosts they are able to use their wings to swim. The following video illustrates two genera, collected in Borneo, that are swimming in the yellow pan traps used to collect these insects:
https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=SCMu8AouuE4.

This photograph was produced by Pei Luo during a Smithsonian internship.