A parasitoid wasp (Bathyplectes anurus), that attacks alfalfa weevil larvae, spins a round ball-like silk cocoon in the larval stage and jumps around! Of course, that means I needed to film it! Special thanks to Matt Bertone, long-time friend and collaborator of the channel for supplying the live wasp cocoons. Technical note: the pinned specimens seen here, pulled from the collection are Bathyplectes curculionis, a close relative species to the jumping B. anurus.
Thanks also to Dr. Lindsey Swierk who shared the Mexican jumping bean footage. Check out more about her research on those through links here:
https://www.binghamton.edu/biology/people/profile.html?id=lswierk Thanks also to Dr. Dalton Ludwick for sharing his weevil & Bathyplectes photos for this video!
Read more about these parasitoid wasps in these sources mentioned in this video:
Iwase, Si., Tuda, M., Sugawara, Y. et al. (2023) Negative phototaxis of jumping cocooned parasitoid wasp larvae against short wavelengths and physicochemical properties of the cocoon shell. Sci Rep 13, 9562
Douglas L. Caldwell, M. Curtis Wilson (1975) Gelis sp., a Hyperparasitoid Attacking Bathyplectes curculionis Cocoons in Indiana , Environmental Entomology, 4: 333–336
Music by soundofpicture.com