AbstractVirus‐like particles (VLPs) that are bound to the egg surface of a parasitic waspVenturia canescensare void of nucleic acid and unable to infect host tissue but instead provide a passive protection against the host's immune recognition. To investigate evolutionary and functional properties ofVenturiaparticles, we isolated cDNAs coding for a VLP‐protein by screening an expression library of the wasp, using antibodies against purified VLPs. The corresponding coding DNA is present in the wasp genome as a single‐copy gene. © 1994 Wiley‐L