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Cotesia congregata (Braconidae) & Manduca sexta (Sphingidae)
Illinois, USA

photograph © Alex Wild 2008

Cotesia congregata - a small braconid wasp- injects more than venom into her caterpillar host.  Several groups of parasitic wasps carry viral genomes- called polydnaviruses- inside their own genome, and this virus serves to dismantle the immune system of their host.

 
Laboratory colony at the University of Illinois.

This image is copyrighted by the photographer and cannot be used without permission. To obtain permission to use this image, please email Alex Wild. (alwild (at) myrmecos.net).  Most of the photographs on myrmecos.net are reduced from their original size and compressed for more efficient web transmission.  In some cases, higher quality versions are available.

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 20D, using a Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens.