We are currently recruiting graduate students and postdocs for an ISF funded project on the evolutionary and behavioral ecology of potter wasps.

The potter wasp Delta dimidiatipenne is common in the Negev Desert. The female constructs mud cells on rock surfaces, in each of which it lays a single egg and places several caterpillars to feed its offspring.
Previous observations indicated that a portion of the caterpillars carried to the nest are already parasitized and contain the offspring of a gregarious parasitoid of the genus Copidosoma.
As a result, the offspring of the potter wasp often fail to develop, while the offspring of the Copidosoma wasp cannot break out of the mud cells on their own, and die within.
We aim at characterizing the distribution, frequency and consequences of this intriguing phenomenon, as well as the prey choice behavior of the female potter wasps.

For details please contact:
Michal Segoli
msegoli@bgu.ac.il
https://msegoli.wixsite.com/segolilab
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Sede Boqer Campus
Israel
+972-58-4774127