Re:We haven’t seen a quarter of known bee species since the ...
by whimsicalism on Monday February 22, 2021 @05:22PM
(#26231475)
TIL! Really appreciate the detailed reply. The Bracovirus tidbit is particularly interesting - it's nuts how aggressively optimizing evolution is.
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Re:We haven’t seen a quarter of known bee species since the ...
by throwanem on Monday February 22, 2021 @06:04PM
(#26231877)
It really is! The more you read about it, the more interesting it gets, too - for example, while the virus is vertically transmitted, that doesn't happen by the ordinary route of mother-to-daughter infection. Instead, the viral genome is integrated into that of the wasp, as are genes that code for a unique type of ovarian cell that's specialized to act as a viral replicator.
And that's just one example! I could give more, like the effect the virus has on the wasp's reproductive host, and how it's honestly surprising that Peter Watts hasn't written a novel about that yet - I'm always happy to talk at length about wasps, or at least to whatever extent my interlocutor of the moment is happy to listen.