This first video was recently submitted to the 2013 ESA YouTube Your Entomology contest by Justin Bredlau, a PhD student at Virginia Commonwealth University. The video shows the life of the parasitic wasp, Cotesia congregata, and two of its hosts. It includes courtship behavior, parasitizing of the host, and larval egression.

More information on the high-speed video and the courtship song can be found in an article by Justin and his colleagues called “Characterization and Generation of Male Courtship Song in Cotesia congregata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)” that appeared in the journal PLOS One.

Watch the video below:

“Home gardeners often notice fuzzy, white ‘eggs’ on hornworms in the later-summer,” the filmmakers wrote. “These are actually the spun cocoons of parasites, in the wasp family Braconidae, that fed and grew within the hornworm, nearly killing it in the process. Tiny wasps will soon emerge from the cocoons and mate, then females will seek other hornworms in which to insert their eggs. Watch time-lapse photography of hornworms feeding on a green tomato, wasp larvae emerging (chewing their way through the skin), pupating, and then emerging as adults in minutes.”