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On Wednesday, I posted about a parasitic wasp that turns a caterpillar into both a living incubator and a zombie-like bodyguard for its larvae. Well, it seems to be a bumper week for wasp research; today, we have yet another demonstration of the amazing tactics used by these macabre parents to provision their young with food.
The stunning colours of the jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) belie its gruesome habits. Its grubs feed on the bodies of cockroaches supplied by their mother. When a female wasp finds a roach, she stings it twice – once in its mid-section to immobilise its front legs, and the second directly into its brain. There, she pumps in a venom that stupefies the roach and changes its behaviour.
It’s not paralysed but it moves sluggishly and shows no desire to flee from danger. In this befuddled state, the jewel wasp can grab the roach by its antennae and walk it around like a dog on a leash. The wasp leads its roach to its nest, where it seals it up and lays an egg on...
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