Hi, I'm a journalist who often writes about insects. Please note that the photo of the hornworm covered with what looks like bobbing grains of rice is not covered with tachnid wasp EGGS. This is a common rookie mistake. Those white things are pupae, cocoons, not eggs. The parasitic tachnic wasp injects her ovipositor into the living caterpillar, filling the caterpiillar's body cavity with almot microscopic eggs. They mature INSIDE the caterpillar, eating it alive in the process from the inside-out. FInally, the larvae of the WASP form cocoons and push through the caterpillar's skin, still attached to the living host. Eventually they burst out of their cocoons and fly off. Here's my article, which you are permitted to re-publish: https://www.peacefuldumpling.com/breaks-a-butterfly-upon-a-wheel
Hi, I'm a journalist who often writes about insects. Please note that the photo of the hornworm covered with what looks like bobbing grains of rice is not covered with tachnid wasp EGGS. This is a common rookie mistake. Those white things are pupae, cocoons, not eggs. The parasitic tachnic wasp injects her ovipositor into the living caterpillar, filling the caterpiillar's body cavity with almot microscopic eggs. They mature INSIDE the caterpillar, eating it alive in the process from the inside-out. FInally, the larvae of the WASP form cocoons and push through the caterpillar's skin, still attached to the living host. Eventually they burst out of their cocoons and fly off. Here's my article, which you are permitted to re-publish: https://www.peacefuldumpling.com/breaks-a-butterfly-upon-a-wheel