Why infected stink bugs lift their wings: Hidden parasite escape caught on camera

Why infected stink bugs lift their wings: Hidden parasite escape caught on camera

Male strepsipterans develop inside a host insect during their larval stage and, upon reaching the adult stage, emerge from the host body to begin a free-living phase. In a new study, researchers at University of Tsukuba directly observed the emergence behavior of male strepsipterans parasitizing stink bugs, where emergence sites are concealed beneath the host's wings, and found that, during emergence, the host exhibits a characteristic wing-raisi