this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago (4 children)

If you wanna learn about some more wasp pollination, look up fig wasps (Agaonidae). Wasps are legitimately one of the coolest groups of animals.

[–] UltraMagnus0001 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Now tell me something nice about flies and mosquitoes so I don't go on a murder rampage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

Some species of flies and mosquitoes are also pollinators. One cute example of pollinating flies are the Bombyliidae. Mosquito larvae are also important food sources for aquatic and semi-aquatic species like frogs and fish.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

i mean that's a pretty unusual pollinator/plant relationship

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

If you study wasps, you'll find that they very frequently have odd symbioses from species to species, most often as parasites/parasitoids or hyperparasites. Some even have symbiotic relationships with viruses that assist them in their parasitism - ichneumon and braconid wasps have symbiotic viruses called polydnaviruses.

[–] Admax 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Indeed very cool, but also quite disturbing the more you learn about less common wasps…

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Haha there's a reason why the Xenomorph from Alien is in part inspired by parasitoid wasps.