confused hyperparasitoid

I have always found insect adaptations interesting. I also find the complexity of their heiarchy levels rather interesting. How a plant is parasitised/ preyed on, then that parasite is eaten by another parasite. Then that parasite will be undoubtedly be eaten by something completely different, so on and so forth. It is quite disgusting and interesting how the larvae are injected into the host and bursts out when it is ready for the next stage in its life cycle.




The way in which insects can adapt to their environment really is quite amazing. A research article I was reading indicates and explains how a hyperparasitoid has adapted from diurnal to diurnal and nocturnal parasitism on another parasitoid.

Hyperparasitoid is a parasitoid that has a host that is a parasite or parasitoid. This is particularly interesting, their mechanisms in which they use to help the survival of their species.

A paper written by V.Wolfgang and K. Petra investigated the Dendrocerus carpenteri's ability or inability to 'hunt' at night. This a hyperparasitoid which has very specific ovipositing conditions. The paper studied these wasps interactions with the night and eggs counts of females. This showed that the female D. carpenrteri has developed the ability to find its host on plants and oviposit at night. The various tests indicated that in unfavorable conditions diurnal activity decreased and nocturnal activity such as flying around at night time to plants with its hosts on, or ovipositing increased. D. carpenrteri  will simply find shelter from the sun if the temperature is too high or low. This wasp also has the same response for humidity as temperature. Once the conditions have optimized for this insect it becomes active again. If the temperature during the day does not optimize and the female has a high egg count, she will become more active during the night in order to lay her eggs or fly around to find new hosts. Although if female D. carpenrteri have  low numbers of eggs, activity during the night will not increase as much as they will have already laid  some of their eggs.

Since this insect has such a short life span it has given it the ability to survive as a species through fluctuating climates. Also the species can reproduce in harsher conditions allowing the species popto survive for the same amount of time as in favorable conditions. The portion of eggs laid in the host will not fluctuate as much between the favorable to unfavorable conditions. This adaption have increased the over fecundity of the population. It makes me wonder just how far these adaptions will actually go. Will organisms become to advanced they can't evolve anymore? Or, what will the future hold for insects? These thoughts can be scary to a certain extent but also very exciting at all the possibilities the future holds for us all.



If you want to read this particular article load the website below.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.lincoln.ac.nz/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2311.1995.tb00459.x/pdf