The Jewel Wasp – Nasonia

The genus Nasonia belongs to a large and diverse group of insects the parasitoid wasps. Adult parasitoid wasps are free-living and lay their eggs in or on various life stages of arthropods (e.g., insects, ticks, mites). Parasitoids include more species beneficial to humans than any other insect group. Since parasitoid Hymenoptera are known to attack significant vectors of human diseases, such as house flies, roaches, and ticks, and pests of agricultural importance, they received great attention from areas such as applied entomology and integrated pest management. They are also important regulators of agricultural pests and as such have a major impact on human food resources. Their impact on humans by reducing the destruction of agricultural products is indeed staggering. In the USA alone, biological control programs using parasitoid wasps allows saving on approximately $20 billion dollars annually by reducing crop loss caused by new invasive species; this number does not include the vast savings from biological control of native pests. Human health benefits directly from parasitoid Hymenoptera, since the group’s ability to regulate native and invasive pest species helps in reducing the application of pesticides that are potentially harmful to human health. The genus Nasonia has become a model system to study the genetic architecture of phenotypic traits important both for basic and applied biology