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A team of researchers has discovered ongoing evolutionary changes in one fruit fly species are having a domino effect on at least three species of predatory wasps. The researchers focused on the jump of a native North American fruit fly onto apple trees in the 1850s. This study follows up previous research on the fruit fly Rhagoletis pomonella, aka the “apple maggot,” which began plaguing U.S. apple growers in the 1850s. That work showed that changes in feeding and mating habits of Rhagoletis are driving it to become two different species.
Image credit: Hannes Schuler
