Though the Samurai wasp be but little, it is fierce

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. There are good guys in our non-native insects, and one in particular that we hope will become widespread. The so-called fortuitous biological control in this case is a wasp that entomologists had studied in Asia which lays her eggs in stinkbug eggs, and voila the wasp eggs hatch, consume the bad guys, and emerge as more insectivorous wasps! This wasp isn’t one to worry about –although its name – the Samurai wasp might give you pause. It doesn’t sting and is the size of a sesame seed—that’s really tiny. For several years, scientists in Maryland were studying it in quarantined experiments, hoping to get permission to release it, but then they got word that it was found in Florida, probably caught a ride just like the insect it helps control.