The size of the smallest host egg that a wasp could theoretically parasitize can be determined from the wasp's egg-laying behavior.

Host insects lack any effective defenses against the form of predation practiced by parasitic wasps.

Parasitic wasps learn from experience how many eggs to lay into the eggs of different host species.

Failure to lay enough eggs would lead to the death of the developing wasp larvae more quickly than would laying too many eggs.

Parasitic wasps use visual clues to calculate the size of a host egg.