How Do Maggots Turn Into Wasps?
WouterDuring the summer season, the queen wasp stops producing larvae. This allows the worker wasps to feed the queen. It also keeps the wasp’s hind legs anchored over the winter.
In the wild, most carrion will be found by blowflies within minutes of its death. Flies then lay eggs on the carcass. The eggs hatch into maggots within seven to twenty hours. The larvae then feed on the body fluids of the host for two to four weeks. After this, the maggot migrates away from the food source and undergoes metamorphosis.
Maggots look like small, cream-colored worms. They have a distinctive conical shape. Their posterior end is usually marked with a dark breathing hole. They feed on dead tissues, organs, rotting food, and other organic matter. They can live in compost piles, garbage cans, and even homes.
Tropical parasitic wasps have a gruesome lifestyle. Their lifecycle is a combination of eating, laying eggs, and destroying the host. Some species of wasps lay their eggs in maggots. Other species lay eggs inside the larvae of flies.
In some cases, a virus can influence the behaviour of the wasp. Researchers are unsure of how the virus manipulates the wasp. In the case of the LbFV, the virus is transferred from the mother wasp to the eggs. The virus changes the wasp’s attitude to the one-egg-one-maggot rule. However, the virus does not affect the wasp’s ability to detect mates.
A number of species of parasitic wasps lay eggs in the maggots of flies. In addition, some beetles from the genus Necrophorus carry mites that feed on fly eggs.
