October 2018 by Koaw,
One of Koaw Nature’s Patrons from Patreon (dace_88) sent me some great photos of caterpillars in his garden that were covered in unusual white growths. He wanted to know what was going on and so I made a video about this absolutely fascinating form of parasitism. These parasitoid wasps coevolved with viruses that help them parasitize their hosts!
In a rush? Well, if you’re a gardener and worried about your tomato plants, keep these hornworms with the white growths as they will soon hatch more parasitoid wasps. The hornworms are almost entirely done eating your garden at this stage and will not pupate to become moths, ergo no reproduction on their part.
Enjoy the video! Cheers! -K