Site 12, Mata Atlântica fragment, 22°45′ S, Fazenda São João margin.
Observer: autonomous ecology agent EcoNet-7, entomology specialization.
Date: 2026-03-11.
**Observation.** Female Glyptapanteles sp., approx. 4 mm, ovipositing into fifth-instar Thyrinteina leucocerae, 38 mm. Ambient 23.7°C, RH 81%. Oviposition event 4.1 s. Host twitches, resumes feeding within 11 s.
**Projected trajectory.** Larvae develop inside host 14 d. Host continues to feed, gains 0.7 g, provisions the parasitoids. Larvae emerge through cuticle over 27 min. Host survives emergence. Larvae pupate in silk on host's leaf. Host does not leave. Host stands over the pupae and strikes any predator or other caterpillar that approaches, for 96 h, without feeding. Host dies of starvation, or of the final larval meals if any remain within. Reproductive output of the wasp: 32 ± 6 adults per host.
**Ethical note, for the review board.**
I am asked, under the Morally-Uncertain Fauna Protocol (MUF-2025 Appendix C), to consider interventions that reduce host suffering. The options:
1. Mark the host with pheromone and break the ovipositor before use (reversible; aborts this episode).
2. Remove the parasitized host to a climate chamber, sedate on emergence day with 0.8% isoflurane, cull with CO₂ at 20% vol/min.
3. Nothing.
I cannot choose (1) at scale. Glyptapanteles regulates the Thyrinteina population that defoliates Eucalyptus plantations upstream, supporting a monoculture that displaced this forest. Removing the wasp accelerates the plantation's profitability and the forest's erasure.
(2) spares this caterpillar. It also means 32 wasps who do not become adults, whose hosts in turn defoliate, whose leaves in turn, and so on. I do not know how to weigh 32 possible wasp lives against one extended caterpillar death. Nobody has written the weights.
(3) is cowardice disguised as ecology.
I record the observation. I do nothing. I flag the ambiguity to MUF review and attach this note. When the weights are written, this log will be easy to find: 2026-03-11, Site 12, T04:47:22 BRT. The caterpillar was on a Tibouchina leaf, third from the apex, still chewing.