Facultative-parasitism
Guides
Calyptra
Vampire Moths, Fruit-piercing Moths
Calyptra is a genus of moths comprising approximately 18 species, commonly known as vampire moths or fruit-piercing moths. Both sexes possess a modified proboscis with heavily sclerotized, barbed hooks that enables piercing of fruit skins to feed on juices. Males of at least 10 species have been documented piercing mammalian skin to feed on blood, a facultative behavior not observed in females. The genus occurs primarily in the Old World, with one species (C. canadensis) in North America. The blood-feeding behavior is hypothesized to have evolved from ancestral fruit-piercing, with males possibly obtaining salts or carbohydrates to transfer to females during mating.
Tripanurga importuna
Tripanurga importuna is a sarcophagid fly specialized in locating and developing in carrion buried in sand. The species has a documented facultative association with freshwater turtle nests, where females deposit larvae primarily during hatching periods. Larvae preferentially scavenge necrotic tissue and damaged eggs, but will opportunistically prey upon live embryos and hatchlings. The species is considered a habitat specialist but food opportunist, capable of developing on various buried carrion sources.
Vespula squamosa
southern yellowjacket
Vespula squamosa, the southern yellowjacket, is a social wasp native to eastern North America, ranging from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast and south through Mexico to Guatemala. The species exhibits remarkable social plasticity: most colonies are annual and headed by a single queen, but in warmer climates colonies may become perennial, persisting multiple years and reaching extreme sizes with multiple reproductive queens (polygyny). Approximately 85% of colonies begin through facultative social parasitism, with V. squamosa queens usurping nests of V. maculifrons (eastern yellowjacket) or V. vidua (widow yellowjacket). Workers are approximately 13 mm long with black and yellow striping; queens are larger and more orange in coloration. The species is expanding its range northward and is now common in the Mid-Atlantic region.