Parasitic wasps turn other insects into ‘zombies,’ saving millions of humans along the way

Vermiform

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Ultra said:
Well as a general principle, you don't want to take a species out of the foodchain yeah, but I had heard somewhere or someplace that we can afford to wipe out mosquitos, at least in certain parts of the world, since they're parasitic and their primary role is to be food for fish/frogs/etc that could be filled by a non bloodsucking insect. As for blackflies, I'm referring specifically to the specie(s) that live in the north arctic in the summer and make it almost inhabitable, they proliferate quite readily since the extreme winters deter their main predators so I wonder what would happen if they all got wiped. Maybe replaced by ants.
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As I said several species sure, the whole damn family of mosquitoes with thousands of species, no.

People who advocate for or demand something need to check what they actually want because most people I know who want things like parasites and pests to be wiped off the planet don't fully realise what those type of organisms play as a role in our world. For example many diseases and allergies are now believed to be due to a LACK of parasites in the human. The general idea is we evolved with parasites in mind so taking them out makes our own immune system going overboard and frying us.
 
Vermiform

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Yoshi said:
Not all wasps do this, however.
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99% are parasitoids, roughly.

The whole sting wasps, bees and ants posses originated for parasitism exclusively. When bees and ants diverged from wasps they modified it into a sting to serve a more protective/offensive function suited for social life.

The actual number of wasp species alive right now is anywhere between a million and 3 million, which means they not only make up a very large chunk of insect life on the planet but animal life in general. Almost all new species discovered are parasitoids and they're getting more and more diverse. It was their development of parasitoidism that turned them into the powerhouse of today and gave rise to ants and bees down the road.

I'm still eager to see how beetles will count in this shitstorm of megadiversity, the known species are already almost half a million so it's pretty much a given beetles might be around a million species in total as well, however bark and rove beetles are a major black hole in this regard as rove beetles might in fact be as diverse and numerous as wasps alone which is quite honestly mind boggling at this point.

All and all insects might range from 2 to 6 million with most agreeing on 3, with wasps and beetles dominating followed by flies which might also be secretly a powerhouse of diversity.
 
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