Dill speaks to BDN about braconid wasp

The Bangor Daily News interviewed Jim Dill, pest management specialist with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, about the braconid wasp. The parasitic insect mummifies and kills the tomato hornworm, making them essential in natural pest control. The adult female wasp will sting the hornworm and lay her eggs inside its body. The wasp larvae develop inside the caterpillar and eat their way out, killing the hornworm in the process. “While they are developing inside the caterpillar, the wasp larvae are slowly making it incapable of doing anything. They are basically turning it into a mummy,” Dill said. Hortidaily shared the BDN report.