Multifaceted defense against antagonistic microbes in developing offspring of the parasitoid wasp Ampulex compressa (Hymenoptera, Ampulicidae).

Effective antimicrobial strategies are essential adaptations of insects to protect themselves, their offspring, and their foods from microbial pathogens and decomposers. Larvae of the emerald cockroach wasp, Ampulex compressa, sanitize their cockroach hosts, Periplaneta americana, with a cocktail of nine antimicrobials comprising mainly (R)-(-)-mellein and micromolide. The blend of these antimicrobials has broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity.

Larvae of the parasitoid wasp Ampulex compressa sanitize their host, the American cockroach, with a blend of antimicrobials.

Food resources contaminated with spoilage or pathogenic microorganisms pose severe problems to all higher organisms. Here, we describe a food-hygienic strategy of the emerald cockroach wasp Ampulex compressa. The wasp larvae develop on and inside the American cockroach Periplaneta americana, a host that can harbor various putrefactive microbes, as well as human and insect pathogens.