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84-470: Rhipiceridae is a family of beetles found worldwide. The larva of rhipicerids are parasitoids of cicada nymphs. Rhipiceridae and Dascillidae form the super family Dascilloidea , within the Elateriformia . The taxonomic history of Rhipiceridae began with J. Fabricius who described Hispa mystacina in 1775, which was later included in the new genus Rhipicera by Latreille (1817) who rightly noticed that

168-761: A computer -like screen , computer viruses , video chat , tanning beds , home treadmills , and more. In 1963, the time travel-themed Doctor Who premiered on BBC Television. The original series ran until 1989 and was revived in 2005. It has been extremely popular worldwide and has greatly influenced later TV science fiction. Other programs in the 1960s included The Outer Limits (1963–1965), Lost in Space (1965–1968), and The Prisoner (1967). Star Trek (the original series), created by Gene Roddenberry , premiered in 1966 on NBC Television and ran for three seasons. It combined elements of space opera and Space Western . Only mildly successful at first,

252-428: A space opera , went on to become a worldwide popular culture phenomenon , and the second-highest-grossing film series of all time. Since the 1980s, science fiction films , along with fantasy , horror , and superhero films, have dominated Hollywood's big-budget productions. Science fiction films often " cross-over " with other genres, including film noir ( Blade Runner - 1982), family film ( E.T.

336-525: A few species are parasitic. The larvae of Epipyropidae feed on Homoptera such as leafhoppers and cicadas, and sometimes on other Lepidoptera. The larvae of Cyclotornidae parasitise first Homoptera and later ant brood. The pyralid moth Chalcoela has been used in biological control of the wasp Polistes in the Galapagos Islands . Parasitism is rare in the Trichoptera (caddisflies), but it

420-535: A great and influential film. In 1954, Godzilla , directed by Ishirō Honda , began the kaiju subgenre of science fiction film, which feature large creatures of any form, usually attacking a major city or engaging other monsters in battle . 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey , directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the work of Arthur C. Clarke , rose above the mostly B-movie offerings up to that time both in scope and quality, and influenced later science fiction films. That same year, Planet of

504-401: A host that continues to grow larger and avoid predators. Primary parasitoids have the simplest parasitic relationship, involving two organisms, the host and the parasitoid. Hyperparasitoids are parasitoids of parasitoids; secondary parasitoids have a primary parasitoid as their host, so there are three organisms involved. Hyperparasitoids are either facultative (can be a primary parasitoid or

588-469: A hyperparasitoid depending on the situation) or obligate (always develop as a hyperparasitoid). Levels of parasitoids beyond secondary also occur, especially among facultative parasitoids. In oak gall systems, there can be up to five levels of parasitism. Cases in which two or more species of parasitoids simultaneously attack the same host without parasitizing each other are called multi- or multiple parasitism. In many cases, multiple parasitism still leads to

672-669: A journey to the Moon and how the Earth 's motion is seen from there. Kepler has been called the "father of science fiction". Following the 17th-century development of the novel as a literary form , Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein (1818) and The Last Man (1826) helped define the form of the science fiction novel. Brian Aldiss has argued that Frankenstein was the first work of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe wrote several stories considered to be science fiction, including " The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall " (1835), which featured

756-516: A large stalk, growing from the back of the ant's head which subsequently releases ascospores. These spores are too large to be wind dispersed and instead fall directly to the ground where they produce secondary spores that infect ants as they walk over them. O. sinesis , is a parasitoid as well, parasitising ghost moth larvae, killing them within 15-25 days, a similar process to that of O. unilateralis . Host location has been studied in Ormia ochracea ,

840-409: A living host which they eventually kill, typically before it can produce offspring, whereas conventional parasites usually do not kill their hosts, and predators typically kill their prey immediately. Parasitoids can be classified as either endo- or ectoparasitoids with idiobiont or koinobiont developmental strategies. Endoparasitoids live within their host's body, while ectoparasitoids feed on

924-534: A parasitoid tachinid fly that locates their field cricket host acoustically ( phonotaxis ). Preference for the dominant local host species was not explained by DNA analysis. In fact, populations across the southern U.S. were inexplicably closely related, considering rate of range expansion from a presumed Central American origin. A captive population of lab-reared flies were raised on two different host songs ( Gryllus integer or G. lineaticeps ). Responsive adult females overwhelmingly chose their familiar song, indicating

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1008-399: A range of obstacles to oviposition, including behavioural, morphological, physiological and immunological defences of their hosts. To thwart this, some wasps inundate their host with their eggs so as to overload its immune system's ability to encapsulate foreign bodies; others introduce a virus which interferes with the host's immune system. Some parasitoid wasps locate hosts by detecting

1092-418: A society (on Earth or another planet) that has developed in wholly different ways from our own." There is a tendency among science fiction enthusiasts as their own arbiter in deciding what exactly constitutes science fiction. David Seed says it may be more useful to talk about science fiction as the intersection of other more concrete subgenres. Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying "Science fiction

1176-495: A total estimated readership of at least 1 million), making it the world's most popular science fiction periodical . In 1984, William Gibson 's first novel, Neuromancer , helped popularize cyberpunk and the word " cyberspace ", a term he originally coined in his 1982 short story Burning Chrome . In 1986, Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold began her Vorkosigan Saga . 1992's Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson predicted immense social upheaval due to

1260-516: A trip to the Moon . Jules Verne was noted for his attention to detail and scientific accuracy, especially in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870). In 1887, the novel El anacronópete by Spanish author Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau introduced the first time machine . An early French/Belgian science fiction writer was J.-H. Rosny aîné (1856–1940). Rosny's masterpiece

1344-575: A very palatable form... New adventures pictured for us in the scientifiction of today are not at all impossible of realization tomorrow... Many great science stories destined to be of historical interest are still to be written... Posterity will point to them as having blazed a new trail, not only in literature and fiction, but progress as well. In 1928, E. E. "Doc" Smith 's first published work, The Skylark of Space , written in collaboration with Lee Hawkins Garby , appeared in Amazing Stories . It

1428-454: A wide range of insects including caterpillars, adult and larval beetles , and true bugs . Commercially, there are two types of rearing systems: short-term seasonal daily output with high production of parasitoids per day, and long-term year-round low daily output with a range in production of 4–1000 million female parasitoids per week, to meet demand for suitable biological control agents for different crops. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717)

1512-623: A world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state . It influenced the emergence of dystopia as a literary genre . In 1926, Hugo Gernsback published the first American science fiction magazine , Amazing Stories . In its first issue he wrote: By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision... Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are always instructive. They supply knowledge... in

1596-470: Is Les Navigateurs de l'Infini ( The Navigators of Infinity ) (1925) in which the word astronaut, "astronautique", was used for the first time. Many critics consider H. G. Wells one of science fiction's most important authors, or even "the Shakespeare of science fiction". His works include The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of

1680-400: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Parasitoids In evolutionary ecology , a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasitism , distinguished by the fatal prognosis for the host, which makes

1764-684: Is depicted as an unending combat between humanity and insect-like extraterrestrial species that tend to parasitise human beings in order to reproduce." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction lists many instances of "parasitism", often causing the host's death. Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to SF or sci-fi ) is a genre of speculative fiction , which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology , space exploration , time travel , parallel universes , and extraterrestrial life . It often explores human responses to changes in science and technology. Science fiction

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1848-676: Is found among the Hydroptilidae (purse-case caddisflies), probably including all 10 species in the Orthotrichia aberrans group; they parasitise the pupae of other trichopterans. Mites of the family Acarophenacidae are ectoparasitoids of insect eggs. Unlike the insect parasitoids, it is the adult stage in Acarophenacidae that acts as a parasitoid. Specifically, adult female mites feed on insect eggs and their body swells up with offspring, which eventually emerge as adults. All known fungi in

1932-619: Is often called the first great space opera . The same year, Philip Francis Nowlan 's original Buck Rogers story, Armageddon 2419 , also appeared in Amazing Stories . This was followed by a Buck Rogers comic strip , the first serious science fiction comic . Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a " future history " science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon . A work of unprecedented scale in

2016-503: Is one of the most influential examples of social science fiction , feminist science fiction , and anthropological science fiction . In 1979, Science Fiction World began publication in the People's Republic of China . It dominates the Chinese science fiction magazine market , at one time claiming a circulation of 300,000 copies per issue and an estimated 3–5 readers per copy (giving it

2100-737: Is parasitoidal on cicadas, locating its host by sound. The Strepsiptera (twisted-wing parasites) consist entirely of parasitoids; they usually sterilise their hosts. Two beetle families, Ripiphoridae (450 species ) and Rhipiceridae , are largely parasitoids, as are Aleochara Staphylinidae ; in all, some 400 staphylinids are parasitoidal. Some 1,600 species of the large and mainly freeliving family Carabidae are parasitoids. A few Neuroptera are parasitoidal; they have larvae that actively search for hosts. The larvae of some Mantispidae , subfamily Symphrasinae, are parasitoids of other arthropods including bees and wasps. Although nearly all Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are herbivorous,

2184-560: Is related to fantasy , horror , and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres . Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Subgenres include hard science fiction , which emphasizes scientific accuracy, and soft science fiction , focusing on social sciences. Other notable subgenres are cyberpunk , which explores the interface between technology and society, and climate fiction , addressing environmental issues. Precedents for science fiction are argued to exist as far back as antiquity, but

2268-411: Is similarly far higher than for screening chemicals: 1:30 against 1:5 respectively, since the search for suitable natural enemies can be guided accurately with ecological knowledge. Natural enemies are more difficult to produce and to distribute than chemicals, as they have a shelf life of weeks at most; and they face a commercial obstacle, namely that they cannot be patented. From the point of view of

2352-537: Is what we point to when we say it." Forrest J Ackerman has been credited with first using the term "sci-fi" (analogous to the then-trendy " hi-fi ") in about 1954. The first known use in print was a description of Donovan's Brain by movie critic Jesse Zunser in January 1954. As science fiction entered popular culture , writers and fans active in the field came to associate the term with low-budget, low-tech " B-movies " and with low-quality pulp science fiction . By

2436-536: The Golden Age of Science Fiction . Science fiction has been called the "literature of ideas ", and continues to evolve, incorporating diverse voices and themes, influencing not just literature but film, TV, and culture at large. Besides providing entertainment it can also criticize present-day society and explore alternatives, and inspiration a " sense of wonder ". According to Isaac Asimov , "Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with

2520-535: The Diptera , Coleoptera and other orders of endopterygote insects . Some of these, usually but not only wasps, are used in biological pest control . The 17th-century zoological artist Maria Sibylla Merian closely observed parasitoids and their hosts in her paintings. The biology of parasitoidism influenced Charles Darwin 's beliefs and has inspired science fiction authors and scriptwriters to create numerous parasitoidal aliens that kill their human hosts, such as

2604-477: The Russian writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov presented a view of a future interstellar communist civilization and is considered one of the most important Soviet science fiction novels. In 1959, Robert A. Heinlein 's Starship Troopers marked a departure from his earlier juvenile stories and novels. It is one of the first and most influential examples of military science fiction , and introduced

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2688-586: The alien species in Ridley Scott 's 1979 film Alien . The term "parasitoid" was coined in 1913 by the Swedo-Finnish writer Odo Reuter , and adopted in English by his reviewer, the entomologist William Morton Wheeler . Reuter used it to describe the strategy where the parasite develops in or on the body of a single host individual, eventually killing that host, while the adult is free-living. Since that time,

2772-447: The information revolution . In 2007, Liu Cixin 's novel, The Three-Body Problem , was published in China. It was translated into English by Ken Liu and published by Tor Books in 2014, and won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel , making Liu the first Asian writer to win the award. Emerging themes in late 20th and early 21st century science fiction include environmental issues ,

2856-1035: The phylogenetic tree ; groups containing parasitoids are shown in boldface, e.g. Coleoptera , with the number of times parasitoidism evolved in the group in parentheses, e.g. (10 clades) . The approximate number (estimates can vary widely) of parasitoid species out of the total is shown in square brackets, e.g. [2,500 of 400,000]. Raphidioptera Megaloptera Neuroptera (net-winged insects) (1 clade) [c. 15 of 6,000] Coleoptera (beetles) (10 clades) [c. 2,500 of 400,000] [REDACTED] Strepsiptera (twisted-wing parasites) [600 of 600] [REDACTED] Symphyta Orussoidea (parasitic wood wasps) [75 of 75] [REDACTED] Apocrita (wasp-waisted insects) [c. 50,000 of 100,000] [REDACTED] Diptera (true flies) (21 clades) [c. 17,000 of 125,000] [REDACTED] Mecoptera Siphonaptera Trichoptera (caddis flies) (1 clade) [c. 10 of 14,500] Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths) (2 clades) [c. 40 of 180,000] [REDACTED] Within

2940-412: The 'death bite'. This approach is so fine-tuned it causes the ant to bite down on the part of the leaf most optimal for the fungus to fruit; the adaxial leaf midrib. In fact, it has been found that in specific circumstances, the time of the death bite is synchronised to solar noon. As much as 40% of the ant's biomass is fungal hyphae at the moment of the death bite. After the ant dies, the fungus produces

3024-400: The 1970s, critics within the field, such as Damon Knight and Terry Carr , were using "sci fi" to distinguish hack-work from serious science fiction. Peter Nicholls writes that "SF" (or "sf") is "the preferred abbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers." Robert Heinlein found even "science fiction" insufficient for certain types of works in this genre, and suggested

3108-550: The Apes (the original), directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle , was released to popular and critical acclaim, its vivid depiction of a post-apocalyptic world in which intelligent apes dominate humans . In 1977, George Lucas began the Star Wars film series with the film now identified as " Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope . " The series, often called

3192-575: The Extra-Terrestrial - 1983), war ( Enemy Mine - 1985), comedy ( Spaceballs - 1987, Galaxy Quest - 1999), animation ( WALL-E – 2008, Big Hero 6 – 2014), Western ( Serenity – 2005), action ( Edge of Tomorrow – 2014, The Matrix – 1999), adventure ( Jupiter Ascending – 2015, Interstellar – 2014), mystery ( Minority Report – 2002), thriller ( Ex Machina – 2014), drama ( Melancholia – 2011, Predestination – 2014), and romance ( Eternal Sunshine of

3276-475: The Fabrician species did not belong to Hispa and placed it in the tribe ‘Cebrionites’ along with Cebrio , Dascillus and Scirtes . Since then W. Kirby, J. O. Westwood and others described several new species of Rhipicera from Australia and South America. Rhipiceridae includes seven genera and about a hundred described species divided into two subfamilies, Rhipicerinae and Sandalinae. Sandalinae include most of

3360-754: The Hymenoptera, parasitoidism evolved just once, and the many described species of parasitoid wasps represent the great majority of species in the order, barring those like the ants , bees , and Vespidae wasps that have secondarily lost the parasitoid habit. The parasitoid wasps include some 25,000 Ichneumonoidea , 22,000 Chalcidoidea , 5,500 Vespoidea , 4,000 Platygastroidea , 3,000 Chrysidoidea , 2,300 Cynipoidea , and many smaller families. These often have remarkable life cycles. They can be classified as either endoparasitic or ectoparasitic according to where they lay their eggs. Endoparasitic wasps insert their eggs inside their host, usually as koinobionts, allowing

3444-584: The Lepidoptera, 10 times or more in Coleoptera, and no less than 21 times among the Diptera. These are all holometabolous insects ( Endopterygota , which form a single clade ), and it is always the larvae that are parasitoidal. The metamorphosis from active larva to an adult with a different body structure permits the dual lifestyle of parasitic larva, freeliving adult in this group. These relationships are shown on

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3528-457: The Spotless Mind – 2004, Her – 2013). Science fiction and television have consistently been in a close relationship. Television or television-like technologies frequently appeared in science fiction long before television itself became widely available in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The first known science fiction television program was a thirty-five-minute adapted excerpt of

3612-548: The States and Empires of the Moon (1657) and The States and Empires of the Sun (1662), Margaret Cavendish 's " The Blazing World " (1666), Jonathan Swift 's Gulliver's Travels (1726), Ludvig Holberg 's Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum (1741) and Voltaire 's Micromégas (1752). Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Somnium the first science fiction story; it depicts

3696-510: The Worlds (1898). His science fiction imagined alien invasion , biological engineering , invisibility , and time travel . In his non-fiction futurologist works he predicted the advent of airplanes , military tanks , nuclear weapons , satellite television , space travel , and something resembling the World Wide Web . Edgar Rice Burroughs 's A Princess of Mars , published in 1912,

3780-521: The best-known is the Xenomorph in Ridley Scott 's 1979 film Alien , which runs rapidly through its lifecycle from violently entering a human host's mouth to bursting fatally from the host's chest. The molecular biologist Alex Sercel, writing in Signal to Noise Magazine , compares "the biology of the [ Alien ] Xenomorphs to parasitoid wasps and nematomorph worms from Earth to illustrate how close to reality

3864-514: The biology of these aliens is and to discuss this exceptional instance of science inspiring artists". Sercel notes that the way the Xenomorph grasps a human's face to implant its embryo is comparable to the way a parasitoid wasp lays its eggs in a living host. He further compares the Xenomorph life cycle to that of the nematomorph Paragordius tricuspidatus which grows to fill its host's body cavity before bursting out and killing it. Alistair Dove, on

3948-753: The chemicals that plants release to defend against insect herbivores. The true flies ( Diptera ) include several families of parasitoids, the largest of which is the Tachinidae (some 9,200 species ), followed by the Bombyliidae (some 4,500 species ), along with the Pipunculidae and the Conopidae , which includes parasitoidal genera such as Stylogaster . Other families of flies include some protelean species. Some Phoridae are parasitoids of ants. Some flesh flies are parasitoids: for instance Emblemasoma auditrix

4032-440: The concept has been generalised and widely applied. A perspective on the evolutionary options can be gained by considering four questions: the effect on the reproductive fitness of a parasite's hosts; the number of hosts they have per life stage; whether the host is prevented from reproducing; and whether the effect depends on intensity (number of parasites per host). From this analysis, proposed by K. D. Lafferty and A. M. Kunis,

4116-413: The concept of powered armor exoskeletons . The German space opera series Perry Rhodan , written by various authors, started in 1961 with an account of the first Moon landing and has since expanded in space to multiple universes , and in time by billions of years. It has become the most popular science fiction book series of all time. In the 1960s and 1970s, New Wave science fiction

4200-506: The creation of microrobots and micromachinery , nanotechnology , smartdust , virtual reality , and artificial intelligence (including swarm intelligence ), as well as developing the ideas of "necroevolution" and the creation of artificial worlds. In 1965, Dune by Frank Herbert featured a much more complex and detailed imagined future society than had previously in most science fiction. In 1967 Anne McCaffrey began her Dragonriders of Pern science fantasy series. Two of

4284-403: The death of one or more of the parasitoids involved. If multiple parasitoids of the same species coexist in a single host, it is called superparasitism . Gregarious species lay multiple eggs or polyembryonic eggs which lead to multiple larvae in a single host. The end result of gregarious superparasitism can be a single surviving parasitoid individual or multiple surviving individuals, depending on

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4368-472: The devoted aficionado or fan—has a hard time trying to explain what science fiction is," and the lack of a "full satisfactory definition" is because "there are no easily delineated limits to science fiction." Another definition comes from The Literature Book by DK and is, "scenarios that are at the time of writing technologically impossible, extrapolating from present-day science...[,]...or that deal with some form of speculative science-based conceit, such as

4452-456: The eggs or larvae of their host, but some attack adults. Oviposition depends on finding the host and on evading host defences; the ovipositor is a tube-like organ used to inject eggs into hosts, sometimes much longer than the wasp's body. Hosts such as ants often behave as if aware of the wasps' presence, making violent movements to prevent oviposition. Wasps may wait for the host to stop moving, and then attack suddenly. Parasitoid wasps face

4536-439: The episodes, ran from 1959 to 1964. It featured fantasy , suspense , and horror as well as science fiction, with each episode being a complete story. Critics have ranked it as one of the best TV programs of any genre . The animated series The Jetsons , while intended as comedy and only running for one season (1962–1963), predicted many inventions now in common use: flat-screen televisions , newspapers on

4620-530: The extraordinarily fast range expansion of O. ochracea, as well as the presence and power of learning in parasitoids. Parasitoids are among the most widely used biological control agents. Classic biological pest control using natural enemies of pests (parasitoids or predators) is extremely cost effective, the cost/benefit ratio for classic control being 1:250, but the technique is more variable in its effects than pesticides; it reduces rather than eliminates pests. The cost/benefit ratio for screening natural enemies

4704-414: The farmer or horticulturalist, the most important groups are the ichneumonid wasps , which prey mainly on caterpillars of butterflies and moths ; braconid wasps , which attack caterpillars and a wide range of other insects including greenfly ; chalcidoid wasps , which parasitise eggs and larvae of greenfly, whitefly , cabbage caterpillars , and scale insects ; and tachinid flies , which parasitise

4788-743: The first science fiction novel . Some of the stories from The Arabian Nights , along with the 10th-century The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Ibn al-Nafis 's 13th-century Theologus Autodidactus , are also argued to contain elements of science fiction. Written during the Scientific Revolution and later the Age of Enlightenment are considered true science-fantasy books. Francis Bacon 's New Atlantis (1627), Johannes Kepler 's Somnium (1634), Athanasius Kircher 's Itinerarium extaticum (1656), Cyrano de Bergerac 's Comical History of

4872-428: The genera Cordyceps and Ophiocordyceps are endoparasitic. One of the most notable fungal parasitoids is O. unilateralis which infects carpenter ants by breaching the ant's exoskeletons via their spores and growing in the ant's hemocoel as free living yeast cells. Eventually the yeast cells progress to producing nerve toxins to alter the behaviour of the ant causing it to climb and bite onto vegetation, known as

4956-480: The genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years. In 1937, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Science Fiction , an event that is sometimes considered the beginning of the Golden Age of Science Fiction , which was characterized by stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress . The "Golden Age" is often said to have ended in 1946, but sometimes

5040-399: The hive. About 10% of described insects are parasitoids, in the orders Hymenoptera , Diptera , Coleoptera , Neuroptera , Lepidoptera , Strepsiptera , and Trichoptera . The majority are wasps within the Hymenoptera; most of the others are Dipteran flies. Parasitoidism has evolved independently many times: once each in Hymenoptera, Strepsiptera, Neuroptera, and Trichoptera, twice in

5124-410: The host from outside. Idiobiont parasitoids prevent further development of the host after initially immobilising it, whereas koinobiont parasitoids allow the host to continue its development while feeding upon it. Most ectoparasitoids are idiobiont, as the host could damage or dislodge the external parasitoid if allowed to move and moult . Most endoparasitoids are koinobionts, giving them the advantage of

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5208-406: The host to continue to grow (thus providing more food to the wasp larvae), moult, and evade predators. Ectoparasitic wasps deposit theirs outside the host's body, usually as idiobionts, immediately paralysing the host to prevent it from escaping or throwing off the parasite. They often carry the host to a nest where it will remain undisturbed for the wasp larva to feed on. Most species of wasps attack

5292-435: The host's behaviour. Among the parasitic wasps, Glyptapanteles modifies the behaviour of its host caterpillar to defend the pupae of the wasps after they emerge from the caterpillar's body. The phorid fly Apocephalus borealis oviposits into the abdomen of its hosts, including honey bees , causing them to abandon their nest, flying from it at night and soon dying, allowing the next generation of flies to emerge outside

5376-472: The implications of the Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about biotechnology , nanotechnology , and post-scarcity societies . Recent trends and subgenres include steampunk , biopunk , and mundane science fiction . The first, or at least one of the first, recorded science fiction film is 1902's A Trip to the Moon , directed by French filmmaker Georges Méliès . It

5460-415: The late 1940s and the 1950s are included. In 1942, Isaac Asimov started his Foundation series , which chronicles the rise and fall of galactic empires and introduced psychohistory . The series was later awarded a one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series". Theodore Sturgeon 's More Than Human (1953) explored possible future human evolution . In 1957, Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale by

5544-475: The living bodies of Caterpillars." The palaeontologist Donald Prothero notes that religiously minded people of the Victorian era , including Darwin, were horrified by this instance of evident cruelty in nature, particularly noticeable in the ichneumonid wasps. Parasitoids have inspired science fiction authors and screenwriters to create terrifying parasitic alien species that kill their human hosts. One of

5628-543: The major evolutionary strategies of parasitism emerge, alongside predation. Parasitoidism, in the view of R. Poulin and H. S. Randhawa, is one of six main evolutionary strategies within parasitism , the others being parasitic castrator , directly transmitted parasite, trophically transmitted parasite, vector -transmitted parasite, and micropredator. These are adaptive peaks , with many possible intermediate strategies, but organisms in many different groups have consistently converged on these six. Parasitoids feed on

5712-456: The modern genre primarily arose in the 19th and early 20th centuries when popular writers began looking to technological progress and speculation. Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein , written in 1818, is often credited as the first true science fiction novel . Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are pivotal figures in the genre's development. In the 20th century, expanded with the introduction of space operas , dystopian literature, pulp magazines , and

5796-472: The novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight , made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo or Nebula Award . In 1968, Philip K. Dick 's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published. It is the literary source of the Blade Runner movie franchise . In 1969, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin was set on a planet in which the inhabitants have no fixed gender . It

5880-450: The nymphs of cicadas . In the species Sandalus niger , the eggs are deposited into the same holes and fissures in the bark of elm trees that cicadas deposit their eggs in. Subsequently, the first instars drop to the group alongside the cicada nymphs, and thereafter attach themselves to them. The abundance of adult rhipicerids tracks that of the emergence of adult cicadas. Rhipicerinae : Sandalinae : This Polyphaga -related article

5964-419: The parasitoidal fluke's life cycle in its definitive host . Similarly, as strepsipteran parasitoids of ants mature, they cause the hosts to climb high on grass stalks, positions that are risky, but favour the emergence of the strepsipterans. Among pathogens of mammals, the rabies virus affects the host's central nervous system , eventually killing it, but perhaps helping to disseminate the virus by modifying

6048-603: The play RUR , written by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek , broadcast live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios on 11 February 1938. The first popular science fiction program on American television was the children's adventure serial Captain Video and His Video Rangers , which ran from June 1949 to April 1955. The Twilight Zone (the original series), produced and narrated by Rod Serling , who also wrote or co-wrote most of

6132-487: The propagation of the parasitoid. Parasitoids are found in a variety of taxa across the insect superorder Endopterygota , whose complete metamorphosis may have pre-adapted them for a split lifestyle, with parasitoid larvae and free-living adults. Most are in the Hymenoptera , where the ichneumons and many other parasitoid wasps are highly specialised for a parasitoidal way of life. There are parasitoids, too, in

6216-468: The reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology ." Robert A. Heinlein wrote that "A handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method ." American science fiction author and editor Lester del Rey wrote, "Even

6300-691: The science website Deep Sea News , writes that there are multiple parallels with parasitoids, though there are in his view more disturbing life cycles in real biology. In his view, the parallels include the placing of an embryo in the host; its growth in the host; the resulting death of the host; and alternating generations , as in the Digenea (trematodes). The social anthropologist Marika Moisseeff argues that "The parasitical and swarming aspects of insect reproduction make these animals favoured villains in Hollywood science fiction. The battle of culture against nature

6384-447: The species and are known from North and South America, Africa, south-eastern Europe and Asia, while much less numerous Rhipicerinae, from Chile, New Caledonia and Australia, is a monophyletic lineage supported by several unambiguous apomorphies, like antennae composed of more than 11 antennomeres, relatively well developed maxillary galea and incomplete lateral pronotal carina. The larval stages of riphicerids are external parasitioids on

6468-483: The species. If superparasitism occurs accidentally in normally solitary species the larvae often fight among themselves until only one is left. In another strategy, some parasitoids influence the host's behaviour in ways that favour the propagation of the parasitoid, often at the cost of the host's life. A spectacular example is the lancet liver fluke , which causes host ants to die clinging to grass stalks, where grazers or birds may be expected to eat them and complete

6552-463: The strategy close to predation . Among parasitoids, strategies range from living inside the host ( endoparasitism ), allowing it to continue growing before emerging as an adult, to paralysing the host and living outside it ( ectoparasitism ). Hosts can include other parasitoids, resulting in hyperparasitism ; in the case of oak galls , up to five levels of parasitism are possible. Some parasitoids influence their host's behaviour in ways that favour

6636-515: The term speculative fiction to be used instead for those that are more "serious" or "thoughtful". Some scholars assert that science fiction had its beginnings in ancient times , when the line between myth and fact was blurred. Written in the 2nd century CE by the satirist Lucian , A True Story contains many themes and tropes characteristic of modern science fiction, including travel to other worlds, extraterrestrial lifeforms , interplanetary warfare, and artificial life . Some consider it

6720-468: The use of a learned, auditory search image. This phenotypic plasticity allows such a highly specialized parasitoid to avoid overspecialization disasters. Interestingly, when receptive females only heard silence the night before testing for preference, they chose the host songs equally, 50/50. This capacity for learning and use of search images paired with a highly specialized morphology and lifestyle (eg. tympana tuned to host sound cues, larviparous) supports

6804-404: Was influential on later filmmakers , bringing a different kind of creativity and fantasy . Méliès's innovative editing and special effects techniques were widely imitated and became important elements of the cinematic medium . 1927's Metropolis , directed by Fritz Lang , is the first feature-length science fiction film. Though not well received in its time, it is now considered

6888-480: Was known for its embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously " literary " or " artistic " sensibility . In 1961, Solaris by Stanisław Lem was published in Poland . The novel dealt with the theme of human limitations as its characters attempted to study a seemingly intelligent ocean on a newly discovered planet . Lem's work anticipated

6972-471: Was one of the first naturalists to study and depict parasitoids and their insect hosts in her closely-observed paintings. Parasitoids influenced the religious thinking of Charles Darwin , who wrote in an 1860 letter to the American naturalist Asa Gray : "I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within

7056-408: Was the first of his three- decade -long planetary romance series of Barsoom novels , which were set on Mars and featured John Carter as the hero . These novels were predecessors to YA novels , and drew inspiration from European science fiction and American Western novels . In 1924, We by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin , one of the first dystopian novels, was published. It describes

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