You are working on a research project to study insects in a tropical rainforest.You have collected some larvae from a species of interest and brought them back to lab.Within a few days of rearing them,you notice that many have been consumed from the inside out and are dead.Upon closer inspection you find that there is another species of insect larvae present.Speculate how this could have happened.
A) The larvae cannibalized one another
B) The larvae were attacked by a predatory insect
C) It appears that you misidentified some of the larvae
D) The larvae were apparently host of a parasitoid fly or wasp

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The presence of another species of insect larvae that has consumed the host larvae from the inside out points to the possibility that the larvae were parasitized by a parasitoid fly or wasp. These insects lay their eggs in the host larvae, and the hatching larvae consume the host from the inside out, eventually killing it.

You Are Working on a Research Project to Study Insects