Muscidifurax uniraptor

Muscidifurax uniraptor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Pteromalidae
Genus:	Muscidifurax
Species:	M. uniraptor
Binomial name
Muscidifurax uniraptor

Muscidifurax uniraptor is a species of wasp (the taxonomic order Hymenoptera) in the family Pteromalidae. The species does not currently have a common name. M. uniraptor is a pupal parasitoid of synanthropic filth-breeding Diptera and is a natural enemy of the housefly Musca domestica and the stable fly Stomoxys calcitrans.

Wolbachia is a cytoplasmically inherited intracellular bacterium. It can generally be found in the reproductive organs of its host species, and can be transferred from female to offspring through the egg cytoplasm. This species causes many reproductive and sex ratio disorders in a range of insect species. However, it seems to be beneficial when present in the host species, M. uniraptor, increasing the host's fecundity or the ability to induce reproduction of fertile, viable offspring specifically under uniparental reproduction. The actual process of gamete duplication differs among the insects that have been infected with Wolbachia, including a similar species of wasp called Muscidifurax raptorellus. The bacterium has been known to cause negative side effects such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, thelytoky, and feminization in the reproductive habits of these various insect species. Traditionally, M. uniraptor determines the sex of offspring using haplodiploidy. The males are produced as haploids from unfertilized eggs while the females are produced as diploids from fertilized eggs. According to this practice, M. uniraptor would normally produce both male and female offspring. However, in M. uniraptor, Wolbachia causes thelytoky, a type of parthenogenesis in which females asexually reproduce only female offspring.

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