Phaenocarpa is a large, cosmopolitan genus of parasitoid wasps (Braconidae: Alysiinae) that targets various fly larvae, including root-maggot flies, fruit flies, and hoverflies. As koinobiont endoparasitoids, females deposit eggs inside living fly larvae, allowing the host to grow until the developing wasp larva consumes it from within. When the wasp matures inside the host’s hardened puparium shell, it uses a remarkable adaptation to escape: specialized, outward-curved (exodont) teeth on its mandibles designed specifically to dig and cut its way into the open air. I encountered this charming little wasp during a walk in Nono, a small, peaceful village in the Ecuadorian highlands just a short bus ride from Quito.