Wasp with a giant dart discovered in the Amazon

Image: Turku University

Researchers have discovered an Amazon wasp with a giant stinger used to inject venom and eggs into its victims.

The team from the University of Turku, Finland, collaborated with colleagues from Colombia, Spain and Venezuela to discover several species of wasps until then unknown to science. One of them called Clistopyga crassicaudata, according to a statement

Although wasps lay eggs in spiders, this is not new to scientists, it is not the case. was the first time they met a wasp with such a big sting. Discovered in the western Amazon, the parasitoid wasp likes to look for spiders in their nests. Clistopyga crassicaudata would then prick the spider and paralyze it with venom. While the spider remains paralyzed, the wasp lays its eggs across the large sting. Most parasitoid wasps have a long organ called the ovipositor, which helps them place eggs in or on their prey. The wasp larvae will later eat the spider from within, including eggs or newborns available in the nest.

Ilari E. Sääksjärvi of the Turku University, Professor of Biodiversity Research, said that they were still studying the spiders of the new parasitoid. wasp prefers. Sääksjärvi speculates that the big sting can have another use other than the delivery of venom and eggs. An article about their study was published in the journal Zootaxa . / ra

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