Cotesia Congregata
Parasitoid Wasp
Sierra Brent
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Introduction:
Introduction:
The common name for the Cotesia Congregata is known as the parasitoid wasp.
The parasitoid wasp lives infest in the expense of their hosts (Bernardo and Singer 2017).
Primary Litertature article: Using multiple mechanisms to detect the defensive strike behavior of the Manduca Sexta caused by the Cotesia Congregata.
Taxonomy
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Family: Braconidae
Genus: Cotesia
Species: Cotesia Congregata
Since the kingdom is animalia, the wasp is eukaryotic and multicellular. The wasp contains a hard protective structure made in their backs to protect the soft tissues meaning it is an exoskeleton. It also has a thorax and contains 3 pairs of legs.
Background
Background
The Cotesia Congregata are small and up to 1/8 of an inch long (NC State Extension Publications, 2021)
The wasp has long black antenna as long as the body (NC State Extension Publication, 2021).
The parasite also infests many different hornworms mainly tobacco and tomato hornworms by injecting their eggs (NC State Extension Publication, 2021).
When a parasite infests in its host, the infection that it causes can alter the hosts behavior to benefit thyself (Benardo and Singer, 2017).
Their wings are usually a dark color such as dark grey or smokey grey (Lucky, Liburd, & Crockett, 2014).
Habitat and Food
Habitat and Food
Cotesia Congregata have been identified in the Mid-Atlantic region. They can be found in North America, central America, South America, and the West Indies (Krombien 1979).
They can sometimes be found on flowers where they drink on nectar (NC State Extension Publication, 2021).
The Cotesia Congregata usually feeds off of the tobacco worms or tomato but may sometimes feed on honey (Lucky, Liburd, & Crockett, 2014.).
Pictures shows coocons on Manduca Sexta.
Important terms to know:
Wasp Larvae- the second process of a developing parasitoid wasp.
Cocoons- the protective covering that is made from threads that are silky which cover the larvae of the wasps eggs.
Interaction of Cotesia Congregata to the Manduca Sexta
Interaction of Cotesia Congregata to the Manduca Sexta
In order for the Cotesia Congregata to survive, they must interfere with their hosts immune system (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
The Cotesia Congregata, also known as the wasp, reproduce by laying their eggs in a caterpillar/host, mostly known as the Manduca Sexta (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
After laying eggs into the Manduca Sexta, the wasp protects its eggs by using venom and polydnavirus to prevent the caterpillar from destroying the eggs. (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
At the end of wasp larvae development, the wasp exits the outside shell of the Manduca Sexta harming and damaging its body wall (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
The eggs have then became coocons and the Manduca Sexta is in charge for being the bodyguard of them.
The wasp larvae also spins cocoons and remains tethered to the caterpillar.
Around 4 to 5 days later the wasp larvae begin to pupate and emerge as adult wasps.
As the wasps emerge from the Manduca Sexta, the defensive strike reflex stays intact (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
Data Analysis:
Data Analysis:
Scientists wanted to discover the defensive strike of the Manduca Sexta caused by the Cotesia Congregata. In the study, the scientists studied two different experiment in order to get to the purpose of the defensive strike (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
The study took about a one to six day process.
In the first part of the experiment, scientists tested the life cycle of how the Cotesia Congregata reacts with its host, Manduca Sexta as explained in the interaction of Cotesia Congregata title above.
After scientists tested the life cycle of how the wasp harms its host, the scientists used a von Frey filament to create a force to the skin of the caterpillar to determine the skin sensitivity (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
They tested by using the distance between the stimulus and emerging wasp at 1mm, 5mm, and 10mm (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
The graph to the right represents how the caterpillars responded between 1 mm, 5 mm, 10mm, and control (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
The results from this study showed Caterpillars had no response at the 1 mm mark because of how close they were to the emerging wasp. During the 5mm and 10mm mark a defensive strike was stimulated due to the distance away from the emerging wasp (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
Figure 1: This figure shows the defensive strike reaction after a certain number of days for different sizes. 1 mm, 5 mm and 10 mm represent the distance between the stimulus and emerging wasp.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The study determined the defensive strike of the Manduca Sexta from the Cotesia Congregata. The Manduca Sexta has two main job and those are:
To eat
Protect itself from attacks
The Cotesia Congregata manipulates both of those jobs as it exits the host body during its emergence (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
It desensitizes the area of the body wall that was damaged during wasp emergence which prevents the expression of the host’s defensive strike (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
The Manduca Sexta or caterpillar was able to respond to anywhere on its body except the wasps exit (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
However, within a day or two, the caterpillar defensive strike will begin to recover and become the bodyguard for the cocoon (Adamo, Kovalko, Turnbull, Easy, & Miles, 2016).
Importance: While the Manduca Sexta is made to protect itself, Cotesia Congregata can cause a extremely harmful impact by making its host lose sensitivity around the exit hole of where the wasp emerges, which is the Manduca Sexta.
References
References
Adamo, S. A., Kovalko, I., Turnbull, K. F., Easy, R. H., & Miles, C. I. (2016). The parasitic wasp Cotesia congregata uses multiple mechanisms to control host (Manduca sexta) behaviour. The Journal of experimental biology, 219(Pt 23), 3750–3758. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.1453004
Krombein KV. 1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America north of Mexico. Smithsonian
Institution Press, Washington D.C., USA.
Baker,J. (2021, May 26). Cotesia congregata, Parasitoid: NC State Extension Publications. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/cotesia-congregata
Christopher, D., Lucky, A., & Liburd, O. E. (2014, July). Common name: A parasitoid wasp scientific name: Cotesia congregata (Say) (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Retrieved February 14, 2023, from
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/WASPS/Cotesia_congregata.htm
Melissa A. Bernardo, Michael S. Singer; Parasite-altered feeding behavior in insects: integrating functional and mechanistic research frontiers. J Exp Biol 15 August 2017; 220 (16): 2848–2857. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.143800
Pictures:
https://live.staticflickr.com/1203/1045829750_455216f5a1_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49009564046_e7de3086ba_b.jpg
https://entomology.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Cotesia-Adult.jpg
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