A rider is an insect that differs from other representatives of its class by a place of laying eggs. When the time comes for reproduction, the female looks for the victim. Having noticed a suitable larva, it sticks the ovipositor into the victim’s body and instantly lays the egg. One attempt is not enough - and she has to attack several times, withstanding an open dangerous battle, which a clumsy victim, as a rule, loses to a smart enemy.
The insect rider can infect openly living larvae and lead a hidden lifestyle, for example, in wood or stems. In such cases, the female ovipositor, like a drill, drills an obstacle. Some riders do not lay eggs in the victim’s body, but on its surface. The larva that came into the world, holding tightly, gnaws at the victim's outer shell and eats its juices.
Rider - an insect with a thin body, with an elongated abdomen, with a long needle-shaped ovipositor at the end. The thickness of the ovipositor is comparable to horse hair. Inside it there are three filamentous villi, during the movement of which the egg moves. A distinctive feature is the long antennae, which probe the surface and picks up the slightest vibration of the rider (insect). The photo shows him well.
Dinocampus coccinellae (an insect rider with a size of about 4 mm, belonging to the family of braconids), parasitizing on a seven-point ladybug, behaves interestingly. A laid egg begins to develop in the body of the victim. Egg larva
coming out in a few days. She begins to feed on adipose and connective tissues, without affecting the internal organs of the cow, which does not seem to notice the changes that have occurred. This continues for about 25 days.
When it is time to leave the body of the wearer, the larva of the rider gnaws through the nerves that go to the extremities of the cow so that it cannot escape. Having got out of the body, the larva is located between the legs of its “canned food”, i.e. under her body, weaves a cocoon, in which it develops further. Amazingly, the ladybug has been alive all this time. The pupa grows for about a week, and then leaves the cocoon. Scientists at the University of Montreal proved that in every fourth case, the carrier remains alive, moreover, after this incident, he returns to his usual way of life.
Currently, about 40 thousand species of riders are known. Despite their abundance, people rarely encounter them. This is due to the fact that
Habitats insects choose sparsely populated, calm. They vary in size (from a few millimeters to 5 cm), in terms of habitat, color and behavior. Their victims are also different. They can be asparagus crackers, bedbugs, cotton weevils, apple moths, and many others. But no matter how it behaves and wherever the rider lives, the insect always provides its offspring with food. Given that the vast majority of their victims are insect pests of crops, destroying them, riders provide undeniable assistance to humans, preventing their spread. It is on this unusual method of reproduction that the biological method of controlling many pests is based.
