Ich's and other parasites are very picky about their hosts. While there are plenty of parasites that oviposit in hornworms, I don't believe this is one of those.
Mostly coccoons but I've seen wild ones oviposit in both coccoons and caterpillars, after some trying I got her to lay eggs in a wax worm larva but it died a day later. It could've just died for some other reason though so I'll try it again tonight. I'll get horn worms tomorrow and see how it works!
Itoplectis aren't all that host specific compared to some other species, the main problem I can think of is the hornworm getting too big after it's been parasitized.
What do you mean by it getting too big? Aren't they one of the species that weave their cocoons attached to the spiracles? Also, there is a really good nonfiction book called Parasite Rex, whiich talks in great detail about different parasites(mostly microscopic), including Plasmodium, Toxoplasmosis gondii, nematodes, and most relevant, a species of parasitic wasp, and how the wasp has a symbiotic/heritidary virus in its eggs that help destroy its host's immune system, allowing the larval wasps to survive.
It's Braconidae that do that, these ones need to eat the host entirely from the inside and then pupate in the empty exoskeleton/coccoon. I thought about getting the smallest hornworms and seeing if the Ichneumon larva grows faster
Its probably avaliable at your local library, however be warned that much of the book is devoted to other parasites/not wasps. I also apologize for the misinformation, maybe hornworms won't work. I also find it interesting the they oviposit into the cocoons of some host species, I wonder how that works?
The hornworm idea might be worth trying if I can get any small enough.
oo yeah, curious if that is possible to ship them. how many hosts with eggs do you have now?
Females can keep producing eggs their whole life if they're well fed enough, and they live around 2 months. They only lay one egg per host, if there were more of them one larva would end up killing the others.
3 now, I'm trying to get these waxworms to pupate since those would be perfect to use as hosts loloo yeah, curious if that is possible to ship them. how many hosts with eggs do you have now?
Ichneumonidae are pretty diverse, you can certainly get a lot of interesting species locally. Only problem with that would be identification and obtaining some hosts.oo yeah, curious if that is possible to ship them. how many hosts with eggs do you have now?