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UBC
A wasp species recently discovered inside the Ecuadorian Amazon is able to turn a spider into a zombie-like drone, which enchanted by the wasp leaves his colony to fill with the orders of his new owner. Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC, Canada) who studied in Ecuador studied the different types of parasites that live in spider nests Anelosimus eximius.
The authors, who published this discovery in Ecological Etomology detail the first example of this slave relationship between a new wasp of the species Zatypota and a social spider Anelosimus eximiu. " Wasps manipulating the behavior of spiders have already been observed, but not at such a complex level," said Philippe Fernández-Fournier, lead author of the study and former master's student in the department of zoology From The UBC
Using data collected in Ecuador for different projects between 2012 and 2017, researchers began to reconstruct the life cycle of the wasp and its parasitic relationship with the spider. # 39; expert is surprised requires the spider to leave his colony, which happens very rarely. Anelosimus eximiu is one of about 25 species of social spiders in the world, living in large colonies, cooperate in catching prey, share the duties of parents and rarely stay away from their nest.
UBC
We do not know how wasps are. But scientists believe that this can be caused by an injection of hormones that make the spider believe that she is at a different stage of life or that she is dispersed from the colony.
Spider Feast
They found it just as fascinating and horrifying: after an adult female wasp wbadsing an egg into the abdomen of a spider, the larva hatched and adheres to the host. Then, presumably, it feeds on the haemolymph, similar to the blood of the spider, which grows and takes the body slowly. The spider now "zombified" leaves the colony and waits patiently to be killed and consumed. After being feasted with the spider, the larva enters its protected cocoon and comes out completely formed nine to eleven days later.
"The wasp completely removes the behavior and brain of the spider and makes it do something that would be very dangerous for these little spiders," says Samantha Straus, co-author of the study.
Other similar cases of parasitism are known: a few weeks ago, we told the story of the little wasp emerald that turns an American badroach into a simple walk in flesh and bone without resistance; or the one that could have inspired the film Alien: Dolichogenidea xenomorph an unknown wasp species until recently that injects its eggs into live caterpillars so that its larvae feed on the inside, burst once they've eaten up to the wasp that inspired "Alien": born in a caterpillar that feeds itself to kill itself.
Beatriz of Vera
This news was originally published in N + 1, the science that lies dormant.
About N + 1: This is the first online magazine for scientific and technological dissemination allowing the total or partial reproduction of its content through communication, bloggers and influencers, mentioning the text and the link to the web: "This news was originally published in the magazine N + 1, a science that adds: www.nmas1.org".
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