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Microbes can draw the line between species

Wasps' gut inhabitants can kill or save crossbreeds

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Sometimes it takes guts, or rather microbes in the guts, to make a species.

SPECIES SAVER Parasitic jewel wasps (female shown injecting her egg into the pupa of a fly host) turn out to maintain their species barriers with help from microbes.