Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthr
Megarhyssa macrurus (Ichneumonidae), a parasitoid, ovipositing into its host through the wood of a tree. The body of a female is c. 2 inches (50 mm) long, with an ovipositor c. 4 inches (100 mm) long.
Spider wasp (Pompilidae), an idiobiont, carrying a jumping spider she has just paralysed back to her nest, where she lays an egg on it.
but endoparasitic koinobiont wasp larvae eventually fill its body and kill it.
Hornworm with parasitic wasp cocoons
Encarsia formosa is a species of chalcidoid wasp and a well known parasitoid of greenhouse whitefly, one of the first to be used commercially for biological pest control, from the 1920s. Its use fell
Tomato leaf with whitefly nymphs (white), some of them visibly parasitized by E. formosa (black)
The parasitoid is sold commercially for biological control of whitefly, an insect pest of tomato and other greenhouse crops.