Matt Ballinger

Cool!!! @zefrank features some of our lab's work on gall wasps & their parasitoids! The last time they featured our work, the video got over 1.7 million views! #biodiversity @RiceUniversity (cc-@FuSchmu) "True Facts: Parasitoid Wasps" youtu.be/ANyJVMhOpkk?si… via @YouTube

I wrote a spooooky piece about parasitoid wasps, viruses, and prospects for fruit fly pest control for @ConversationUS (ok spooky is a stretch) theconversation.com/in-hawaii-para…

Come talk with me about our published and unpublished work on a new #braconid wasp at #EntSoc24! D3543: First record of a parasitoid wasp using adult flies as hosts cdmcd.co/bRpyw7

Vince and I are currently recruiting grad students for a variety of projects. Please pass on this flier to anyone you think would be interested!

It's Giving Day at the University of Wyoming, and they are running a fundraiser in support of the UW Insect Museum and Gallery.  Gifts of all sizes are appreciated and support efforts to discover and name the obscure little insects in the world! give.uwyo.edu/schools/Univer…

@ry_folk saw this headline yesterday and immediately wondered about your response

OBSESSED

The 2 mm #braconid parasitoid wasp, Syntretus perlmani. This is about the best I can do...she needs a proper photographer (and/or a much bigger host!) #euphorinae #entomology #parasitoids

@wk_kwong thank you, waldan!

@spirophasma Wonderful paper and fascinating discovery. Congratulations!!

The life strategies of #parasitoids are stunningly diverse, but no wasps that attack and develop inside adult flies have ever been described. Our article describes the first one. Its hosts: Drosophila melanogaster and other species of #Drosophila #Entomology #Braconidae

@Symbionticism @blekhman I can smell this

Morning, hypnotic roast with ⁦@blekhman⁩ on his way out from the valley. Slurp.

Thanks @NaturePodcast for having me on! We talked about a new #braconid wasp species that uses adult Drosophila flies as its host. Fly lovers be warned, this timelapse of #parasitoid wasp larval emergence is in #natureismetal territory. Link to the episode below.

We are proud to announce this incredible new species of Ghost Wasp, the Mam-Burrumurl Wasp! 🖤❤️ Found in Jawoyn Country in the beautiful landscape of Leliyn in Nitmiluk National Park, the name ‘mam-burrumurl’ translates to Ghost Wasp in Jawoyn language! ☀️(1/3)

@centuribob1 Thanks Ying!

@spirophasma Big congratulations, Matt!!!!

@VinoRiver sometimes immediately, sometimes they live up to 24 hours afterward! we've never seen one last longer than that though.

@spirophasma terrifying stuff, does the fly dies after that?

@duplouy_anne wow! what parasitoid was this?

@spirophasma We have one record, not documented unfortunately, of a parasitoid parasitising during host pupal stage and emerging at adult stage. I just wonder how common across stage parasitism is, and we know little of it!

@C_Blei @NKWhiteman sorry for the lack of clarity, Christoph. it seems the abstract, which specified (Braconidae: Euphorinae) was replaced with the Nature "summary" paragraph. maybe too much overlap between the two, or the taxonomy was deemed too niche for the abstract.

@NKWhiteman Very cool, but hilariously, from reading the abstract its impossible to get any taxonomic information about what kind of wasps they are talking!

@duplouy_anne we are seeing more behavioral variation. some females are absolutely voracious ovipositors. I would not be surprised at all to see a few oviposition attempts into a larval host. and it would be fascinating if wasp development is successful in those cases!

@duplouy_anne great question, the short answer is I don't know for sure, we haven't done a proper experiment. I have given drosophila affinis pupae to one wasp in small numbers did not seen any oviposition or infections come out of it. but now that we have dozens of wasps instead of a handful,

The first works on syntretine host biology were published in the 1950s and 60s, but they've not been successfully cultured for laboratory study. We have the species in the lab and would be thrilled to share the line with others!

The new species belongs to the subfamily #Euphorinae known for the unusual strategy of attacking adult insects. This is Syntretus perlmani, new member of a genus known previously to parasitize adult bees and wasps. Named for our colleague and friend, Dr. Steve Perlman.