Strange parasite inside woodlice!

[lifemotif]

Hi! I'm new to this forum (hope it's the correct section) but I want to share something really strange happened to me right now: I've just found a dead woodlice in my terrarium and something like a worm came out of it!! Well at a clooser look it looks more similar to a caterpillar and there were two of them, another one squeezed out as I grabber the dead body of the woodlice. It's dalmatian woodlice approximately one cm long. Do you know what could it possibly be? I will post pictures!

 

[schmiggle]

Could be parasitoid, but I'm not at all knowledgeable on this. They definitely look like insect larvae. Are you sure they were there before it died and didn't go inside afterwards?

If you can, save the worms in alcohol.

 

[lifemotif]

No they could have get there later yes it's possible, anyway as far as I know the only parasite which could produce similar effects are wasps isnt it? And this would be possible since my woodlices were in a box in the balcony, even though there is the mosquito net and I dont ever see wasps around...

 

[schmiggle]

as far as I know the only parasite which could produce similar effects are wasps isnt it

No, there are several clades of flies, and I think beetles, that have the same life cycle.

Some of those parasitoids are miniscule, too small to easily see. How big are those larvae?

 

[lifemotif]

They are few mm longs, not more, anyway no they can't be flies since that were not similar to maggots at all...

 

[schmiggle]

they can't be flies since that were not similar to maggots at all...

There are lots of different fly larva body forms.

These are all photos of dipteran larvae from different families. I'm not saying it's a fly--I have no idea--but I think it's early to rule that out without the opinion of someone knowledgeable.

I would say that, if it's a parasitoid, it's almost certainly a dipteran, because this paper says that all known parasitoid species of woodlice are flies in the family Rhinophoridae. However, based on the (limited) pictures in that paper, I think it's more likely that the eggs were just sitting in the tank and waiting for something dead to eat so they could hatch and grow.

 

[MTA]

They look really similar to fungus gnat larvae which have the same slim white/translucent body and black head.