Good Bug Corner-Parasitic Wasps

 

This week’s Good Bug Corner featured insects are parasitic wasps in the insect family Braconidae. These tiny parasitic wasps (or parasitoids) lay eggs within foliage-feeding caterpillars, such as armyworms, loopers, etc.. Eggs hatch into larvae, and they eat the insides of the caterpillar killing it. Braconid parasitization often causes the caterpillar to crawl up the tip of the plant before dying! The mature wasp larvae emerge and then spin cocoons outside the caterpillar body. Extension Entomology has received many calls/emails about these Braconid cocoons and whether it is a friend or foe in field crops. This good bug is being observed on wheat awns and on soybean leaves. 

 

 

 

 

Video: How Can We Grow More Food With Less Impact?

For over two decades, Dr. Mitloehner has been at the forefront of research on how animal agriculture affects our air and our climate. With deep expertise in emissions and volatile organic compounds, his work initially focused on air quality in regions like California’s Central Valley—home to both the nation’s richest agricultural output and some of its poorest air quality.

In recent years, methane has taken center stage in climate discourse—not just scientifically, but politically. Once a topic reserved for technical discussions about manure management and feed efficiency, it has become a flashpoint in debates over sustainability, regulation, and even the legitimacy of livestock farming itself.

Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Professor and Air Quality Specialist with the CLEAR Center sits down with Associate Director for Communications at the CLEAR Center, Joe Proudman.