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Originally Posted by Fritillary  after finishing my studies I found a part job identifying wasps and bees, which I love because I am learning lot of things. For example, it is said that the Perilampidae are secundary parasites, that is they are parasites of wasp parasites  . I wonder if the Perilampidae have also parasites..and like that to infinitum....  |
Hyperparasitism is fairly common ... a lot commoner than most people would believe. Rearing out Oak and Rose galls is a great way to quickly study parasitoid communities. The gall-formers (cynipid plant parasites themselves) play host to a number of chalcid and ichneumon wasp parasitoids. The galls are also raided by inquiline squatters (usually distant cousins of the gall formers) and some of these can eat so much of the gall that the host itself dies of starvation - turning the inquilines from gall wasp parasites into cleptoparasitoids.
