Leptopilina boulardii
Click the link above to see how attack of female parasitoid wasps elicits rolling escape locomotion in third instar Drosophila larvae. We are currently investigating the roles of larval nociceptive neurons in detecting the wasp attack. The female wasps penetrate the Drosophila with a sharp ovipositor in order to deposit an egg within the Drosophila. The wasp egg then hatches and the developing wasp devours the Drosophila from the inside. We have proposed that nocifensive escape locomotion protects the larva from egg deposition.
In the movie shown above, the escape locomotion of the larva causes the threadlike ovipositor of the wasp to spool around its body. The larva flips the wasp through the air and then makes its escape.