Nasonia vitripennis

Definition

A small parasitoid wasp (family Pteromalidae, order Hymenoptera) that attacks the pupal stage of various dipteran hosts, particularly calliphorid blowflies and sarcophagid flesh flies. Females lay eggs in host puparia, and developing wasp larvae consume the fly pupa from within. The species is obligately infected with Wolbachia endosymbionts that manipulate host sex determination, causing male-killing in haplodiploid systems. It serves as the primary model organism for parasitoid wasp genetics, developmental biology, and host-parasitoid coevolution research, with a fully sequenced genome and well-established laboratory rearing protocols.

Etymology

Genus name Nasonia of uncertain derivation; specific epithet vitripennis from Latin vitrum (glass) and penna (wing), referring to the transparent, glassy wings.

Example

Researchers use Nasonia vitripennis to study cytoplasmic incompatibility induced by Wolbachia, where matings between infected males and uninfected females produce unviable offspring—a mechanism with implications for both arthropod population genetics and transinsectite vector control strategies.

Related Terms

• Parasitoid
• Pteromalidae
• Wolbachia
• Haplodiploidy
• Biological control
• blowfly
• flesh fly
• Nasonia giraulti
• Cytoplasmic incompatibility

Usage Notes

The most extensively studied of the four described Nasonia species; often contrasted with congeners N. giraulti, N. longicornis, and N. oneida in speciation and hybrid incompatibility studies. Laboratory strains are typically maintained on blowfly pupae (e.g., Calliphora, Lucilia, Sarcophaga). The Wolbachia strain wVitA is fixed in most natural populations and underlies the wasp's sex-ratio bias and reproductive isolation from other Nasonia species. Not to be confused with the genus Mormoniella, under which this species was formerly classified.