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USDA scientists import wasps from China to battle the spotted lanternfly invasion »

bogleech:

Saw this article on facebook with TONS of comments from people insisting this was “a terrible idea” and laughing about it, comparing it to the Cane Toad fiasco in Australia or the “Chinese Needle Snakes” bit from the Simpsons.

Most of you probably know this, but just in case, what they’re talking about here are parasitoid wasps, and parasites are generally so adapted to the immune systems of their specific host species that they find it difficult or impossible to infect other animals. This is especially true of parasitoid wasps; the one that infects the spotted lanternfly would die instantly in the body of even other lanternfly species.

This type of biocontrol is 100% safe, the only issue is that it can’t really *eliminate* an invasive species, since parasites naturally reach a population balance with their hosts.

Reblogged 3 years ago from dberl (Originally from bogleech)
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  2. bombuslaetus said: Sorry to argue, but there are some examples for parasitic wasps that switch to other hosts (even not directly “close” related) in nature when their “original” host gets rare. So yeah, of course there is a risk, but if it goes wrong, we will probably not realize it soon enough because these interactions are due to its size more difficult to study. Parasitic wasps are awesome and this research field has still many open questions.
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