Fig wasps bore with zinc tipped drill bits
Channel: The Company of Biologists
Date: 2014-05-29

Fig wasps bore into hard unripe figs to lay their eggs with an ovipositor tip that is shaped like a drill bit tip that is reinforced with zinc for hardness. Laksminath Kundanati explains how he made the discovery with Namrata Gundhia at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The original research can be accessed at http://jeb.biologists.org/content/217/11/1946.abstract